Shameless plug, I know, but I thought some readers might be interested in tigers and leopards in Korea. I was in a meeting with an elderly Korean scholar and to be honest I was surprised when he felt that there were not that many tigers in the past. What really surprised me was he did not believe that there were leopards in Korea and joked that they were probably nothing more than big cats….I tend to doubt that.
“The tiger was alleged to be able to cry out like a human and lure his victims out into the open where he would quickly kill them and drag them away, leaving nothing more than a pool of blood and tattered clothing. Failing to lure his victims out into the open, he often forced his way into the homes, either through a door or the weak thatched-roof, carrying away young screaming children and devouring them in the safety of the forest. There was nothing that you could do to stop them, not even lying on your left side.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
17 Comments
Great read. I’ve often wondered about tigers in Korea while hiking in the mountains, that and unexploded ordinance from the Korean War. But I suppose both are long-gone in the areas around Seoul. Anyone know if there are still Siberian tigers living in isolated pockets up North?
Wolves used to be the biggest threat. Tigers and Leopards were more reclusive. Early pictures suggest that they used to stalk the city just outside the wall, not true. They were hunted.
I wonder if tigers weren’t often blamed for the work of murderers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Tiger
“The tiger population in the wild was probably lower than 50 in the 1930s”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Tiger
That might answer my question.
I would have to think that if there was even a single tiger left in North Korea by 1960, it would have been immediately hunted down in order to present its valuble parts as tributary gift to the Great Leader…
Could be. If we start to see a declining supply of electric fans, we’ll know what’s up.
# 7 LO F’ing L!!!!!
I loved this report. I had just read about a performance of one Jazz/Samulnori work called “TIGER!” by the Ronn Branton Group that is supposed to be performed this July as well as part of his Summer Night Jazz program. I guess this is the season for tigers but this goes well with the earlier post about Sanshin since he always had tiger with him.
I recall a report some time last year that the DPRK had received a grant from some U.N. agency to study the Snow Leopard, however I have not been able to google it back up. It may have been misinformation. If snow leopards could survive, perhaps there is hope for tigers. For some reason, the link to the rest of the article keeps timing out.
Certainly in early 20th Century Korea, there was a guild of tiger hunters which according to one observer, also functioned as a military force.
Anyway, that was a fine article, Robert, like the rest of that series — thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Interesting article (as always).
A friend of mine told me that when his father was growing up near Daejeon (early 1940s, I think), their dog woke them up when it ran into the house one night shivering and wetting itself. Then they heard a deep, rumbling growl from something large beyond the compound, but it left and never returned. They assumed it was a tiger (though perhaps it was a leopard).
In “Corea or Cho-sen: The Land of the Morning Calm” (it can be read over at project gutenberg) the author describes the close encounter with the leopard in the abandoned palace mentioned in the article.
‘Korea’s Fight for Freedom’ (also at gutenberg) mentions the tiger hunters as being members of the righteous armies.
I hadn’t heard of leopards existing in Korea, but what do I know?
Tigers must have been common enough at one time that they figure so prominently in folktales (even in the line, “Once upon a time, a long time ago, when tigers smoked pipes…”) and iconography (like Hodori, the ‘88 Olympic mascot).
I recall reading a book by a couple of Swedes who travelled to Korea in the ’30s. The coolest part is that they got there by train, via the Trans-Siberian Railway, then down through Manchuria into Korea. Anyhow, I recall reading about either their tiger-hunting or meeting tiger hunters…or perhaps it was wild boars, now that I think of it….
Thanks, Robert. Korean (Manchurian, Amur) Leopards, and I never would have known a thing about it. One can learn a lot poking one’s head into a marmot’s hole.
A fair number of Koreans indeed seem to have a visceral fear/hatred of cats.
Perhaps a vestige of the time when man-eaters roamed the land?
Makes sense.
dogbertt. Good point, depictions of tigers in traditional Korean paintings look more like oversized housecats, as opposed to their more realistic depiction in, say, Chinese art of a similar period. Perhaps rodents (apologies to Marmot) were not the problem in Korea that they are in Southeast Asia, where housecats are fairly common, and country people my age still loath tigers.