The Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl

Owls of the Eastern Ice

The Times Nature Book of the Year 2020 
Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award 
A Finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 
 
'Remarkable. If only every endangered species had a guardian angel as impassioned, courageous and pragmatic as Jonathan Slaght' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 
 
'Gripping' Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the Tale 
 
Primorye, a remote forested region near to where Russia, China and North Korea meet in a tangle of barbed wire, is the only place where brown bears, tigers and leopards co-exist. It is also home to one of nature's rarest birds, the Blakiston's fish owl. A chance encounter with this huge, strange bird was to change wildlife researcher Jonathan C. Slaght's life beyond measure. 
 
This is the story of Slaght's quest to safeguard the elusive owl from extinction. During months-long journeys covering thousands of miles, he has pursued it through its forbidding territory. He has spent time with the Russians who struggle on in the harsh conditions of the taiga forest. And he has observed how Russia's logging interests and evolving fortunes present new threats to the owl's survival. Preserving its habitats will secure the forest for future generations, both animal and human - but can this battle be won? Exhilarating and clear-sighted, Owls of the Eastern Ice is an impassioned reflection on our relationship with the natural world and on what it means to devote one's career to a single pursuit. 
 
'Slaght makes the people, wildlife and landscape of the Russian Far East come alive. I haven't enjoyed a book on remote Russia as much as this since Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia' 
Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia 
 
'True epic. Powerful, passionate' Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast

Slaght has a rare gift for startling evocations of the natural world...A refreshingly old-school, tautly strung adventure

Excellent...The brutality of human habitation is counterpoised with the brutality of the natural world. The reader becomes, like the author, "stunned by the quiet violence of this place."

This is a tale of man's endurance, determination and perseverance in search of this elusive and beautiful creature ... wonderful

The remarkable story of one man's heroic quest to save the astonishing fish owl. If only every endangered species had a guardian angel as impassioned, courageous and pragmatic as Jonathan Slaght.

A gripping account of the author's obsessive quest to save one of the world's most magnificent birds.

Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex and author of A Sting in the Tale

A vivid dispatch from the front line of conservation, Owls of the Eastern Ice is engrossing and uplifting; an inspiring story of vital work undertaken with utter determination in wild and distant places.

Horatio Clare, author of Orison for a Curlew

Slaght's story reveals the patience and determination of a true conservationist. And the ears and eyes of a poet. Above all, he makes the people, wildlife and landscape of the Russian Far East come alive for armchair travellers. I haven't enjoyed a book on remote Russia as much as this since Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia

Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

True epic. A powerful, passionate and highly readable reflection on the wildness both inside us and out there in the forest.

A fascinating account of one man's quest to conserve the magnificent fish owl of Eastern Asia, this is a book that feels both urgent and relevant.

Christopher Skaife, author of The Ravenmaster

From the very first pages, Slaght grips readers with vivid language and tight storytelling ... The cast of characters he brings to life - both human and avian - illuminate the delicate symbiosis of the natural world and shed a welcome light on the remarkable creatures that are too little known. Top-notch nature writing in service of a magnificent, vulnerable creature.

A detailed and thrilling account of efforts to conserve an endangered species. . . Slaght evinces humor, tirelessness, and dedication in relating the hard and crucial work of conservation. Readers will be drawn to this exciting chronicle of science and adventure, a demonstration that wilderness can still be found.

A thoroughly engaging read which will appeal both to those specifically interested in owls, as well as those with a wider interest in the natural world. Will make armchair and keyboard conservationists envious and uncomfortable in equal measures

This is an epic tale of hangovers, violence and obsessive ornithology. It is a superb depiction of a far-flung corner of the world where bears, tigers and men battle with relentless environment and each other. It is a powerful antidote to saccharine nature writing; Slaght encounters such a host of pickled gritty characters that you could imagine the Coen brothers adapting it for the screen.

Wonderful... If [COP26 organisers] picked it up in the jet-lagged early hours they might find their dreams haunted, as mine have been, by huge, endangered owls swooping low through their subconscious, reminding them what survival might mean

The forests near to where Russia, China and North Korea meet in a tangle of barbed wire are the only place on earth where brown bears, leopards and tigers co-exist. They are also home to one of nature's rarest birds, the Blakiston's fish owl. A chance encounter with this huge, strange bird was to change wildlife researcher Jonathan Slaght's life beyond measure. During the following two decades, Slaght's quest to safeguard the elusive owl from extinction took him over thousands of miles of forbidding and threatened terrain. Thrilling and inspiring, his book is a beautifully crafted meditation on the natural world and what it means to devote one's career to a single pursuit.

Jonathan C. Slaght

Compelling, [a] well designed book... an impressive addition to recent literature on big cat conservation in spare, economical prose

You sense the silences and threats of the deep forest. You taste the pungently Siberian flavour of the desperately remote towns... encounters are soaked in adrenaline... this book does offer that rarest and happiest of things in the world of nature conservation: a success story

Slaght’s evocative book tells the remarkable story of a three decade-long scientific collaboration

Inspiring, compelling... bristling with detail and feeling... we become as wedded to the fortunes of the cats – proud Olga, brave Severina, orphaned Zolushka – as we do to the people who have dragged them back from the brink, one individual at a time... a timely reminder of what collaboration across borders can achieve

Fascinating and important... Slaght vividly evokes this astonishing landscape... a beautiful demonstration of how conservation efforts depend on local communities and political will

A heart-in-your-mouth saga that tells the stories—terrifying, riveting and sad—of the adventurer scientists who saved the disappearing Amur tiger. Slaght gives us an inspiring account of a wilderness where brown bears fight tigers and the too-brief geopolitical thaw that reshaped the lives of both man and tiger

A Scientific American Favourite Book 2025

The remarkable and enthralling story of the majestic Amur tiger... this is a story that gives us hope in the possibility of living alongside, reviving and protecting the natural world

A captivating account of the Siberian Tiger Project, a multi-decade collaborative effort among American and Russian scientists to study and protect Siberian tigers... Slaght sketches an empathetic portrait of these intrepid researchers as well as the imperiled creatures they studied... [Slaght] brings their stories to life on the page with vivid detail and suspense

The ambitious book is... enlivened by the insights of Slaght, whose compassion and curiosity make his book suspenseful and urgent

Gripping stuff. A nail-biting adventure that really matters

Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild

A huge adventure at the frontiers of conservation, a whole hidden world, meticulously described, poised on the very edges of the wild and repeatedly made searingly alive by the majestic animals at its heart

Adam Nicolson, author of Bird School

Tigers Between Empires is a wonderfully complete and engaging account of the odds that passionate people can overcome when they truly believe in their mission and never give up the fight. At a time when the United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted countries in Europe and eco-anxiety turns many of us to pessimism and lethargy this book proves that species can be brought back from the brink of extinction and habitats can be protected, restored and improved by their presence. Perhaps one day the kind of successes experienced by the inspirational cast of characters in this book might be played out over our own rolling valleys and forests. Might Slaght’s work here even bring the return of native apex predators one step closer to Britain’s shores

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, author of Our Oaken Bones

Jon Slaght’s magisterial, fluent story of the landmark Siberian Tiger Project intimately reveals the ecology of these charismatic cats, as well as the struggles and triumphs of people who brought them back from the verge of extinction. Having studied tigers in India where tiger populations are packed at densities ten times higher, I hold in awe the heroism of scientists, conservationists and officials in this bleakest of tiger habitats in the world. Slaght’s ring-side view depicts how a social cocktail of intense passion and robust science can lead to effective species recovery

K. Ullas Karanth, Tiger Biologist & author of Among Tigers: Fighting to Bring Back Asia’s Big Cats

The Journey to Save the Siberian Tiger from Extinction

Deep in the forests of Northeast Asia roams the majestic and revered Amur tigers, more popularly known as ‘The Siberian Tiger’. But in the final years of the Cold War, only a few hundred of these graceful animals stepped quietly through the snow of the Amur River basin. As the Soviet Union fell, catastrophe arrived, with poaching and logging taking a fast, astonishing toll on an already vulnerable species. 
 
Taking us on a journey through remote frozen landscapes, globally renowned conservationist Jonathan Slaght charts the incredible story of how Russian scientists and American conservationists came together to save these magnificent, solitary creatures. He retraces their steps to show how this dedicated, fearless coalition laid the foundations of new tiger research across Asia, transforming public opinion around tigers from something to be feared and hunted, to creatures we must protect. 
 
Today, tigers occupy 7% of the lands they did 100 years ago, disappearing in the wild from Bali to Iran. In the ongoing global crisis of species destruction, Slaght shows us that the revival of the Amur tiger can bring us hope for the future: a model for how to live alongside, and revive, the natural world.

Tigers Between Empires

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Jonathan C. Slaght

Praise for Tigers Between Empires

Compelling, [a] well designed book... an impressive addition to recent literature on big cat conservation in spare, economical prose

You sense the silences and threats of the deep forest. You taste the pungently Siberian flavour of the desperately remote towns... encounters are soaked in adrenaline... this book does offer that rarest

Slaght’s evocative book tells the remarkable story of a three decade-long scientific collaboration

Compelling, [a] well designed book... an impressive addition to recent literature on big cat conservation in spare, economical prose

You sense the silences and threats of the deep forest. You taste the pungently Siberian flavour of the desperately remote towns... encounters are soaked in adrenaline... this book does offer that rarest

Slaght’s evocative book tells the remarkable story of a three decade-long scientific collaboration

Compelling, [a] well designed book... an impressive addition to recent literature on big cat conservation in spare, economical prose

You sense the silences and threats of the deep forest. You taste the pungently Siberian flavour of the desperately remote towns... encounters are soaked in adrenaline... this book does offer that rarest

Slaght’s evocative book tells the remarkable story of a three decade-long scientific collaboration

Books by Jonathan C. Slaght

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