# Historical tiger hunts in Azerbaijan

Until 1932, Turan tiger hunts were held mainly in the southeastern region of Azerbaijan (Goytepe and surrounding areas).

## History

Throughout history, Turan tigers were used in gladiator fights in the Roman Empire, which led to their hunting in Anatolia and the Caucasus. This process continued in subsequent centuries, and during the Soviet era, tiger hunters in various Soviet republics were rewarded until the 1930s.
In Azerbaijan, tiger hunts have been carried out over a long period. In one of the issues of the "Qafqaz" newspaper released in 1846 (No. 13), tiger hunts conducted in the Talish forests are mentioned. It is noted that the tigers in this region were in family units, consisting of females and pairs. The article also recounts a woman who killed a tiger with an axe to rescue her husband from the tiger's attack. After the woman's initial strike, the tiger attacked her, but the heavily wounded tiger ultimately died. The woman who killed the tiger claimed that it mistook her for an ox or another animal. Information about the woman who killed the tiger is also found in Alexander Dumas's work "Caucasian Journey." Dumas reported that this woman was invited to Tbilisi by Prince Vorontsov and was rewarded with a medal for her bravery in the Caucasus hunting expedition. Two editions of "Qafqaz" newspaper and Duma's "Caucasus trip" show different areas, Goytepe, Privolnoye (Jalilabad) and Jangamiran (Lerik) as the place of occurrence of the incident. Although Duma met the woman directly, the fact that "Qafqaz" newspaper used the name Goytepe when it first reported on the incident increases the probability that the incident took place here. It is assumed that the incident has spread among the people and changed. In addition, Duma tells about merchants who met a tiger on the Lankaran-Astara road, and about a tiger that played with a boy from Shanaka village for ten minutes and did not kill him.
In the Talish forests, tigers were primarily hunted in groups, with rare instances of being hunted by an individual. Part of the group (those stationed in ambush) would drive the tiger towards tall trees where it couldn't escape, while others (hunters) would then attack the tiger from their direction.
Between 1832 and 1932, events related to tigers were recorded in the Talish region, Lankaran, Goytepe, Bilasuvar, the Mugan Desert, and Veng village in Karabakh. In the mid-19th century, only 10-20 Turan tigers were hunted annually in the vicinity of Lankaran. In 1837, the fur of a hunted tiger in the Talish region was gifted to the St. Petersburg Academy. At an unspecified time, the skull of a tiger was presented to the Caucasus Museum. In 1844, the "Qafqaz" newspaper reported a tiger hunt organized by Russian border colonels and nearly 200 local residents in Goytepe. In 1896, a Russian lieutenant hunted two tigers with local hunters in the Talish region. In 1932, the last recorded Turan tiger hunt in Azerbaijan took place in Goytepe, where both female and male tigers were hunted.
Historical findings indicate that the prime habitats for tigers in the Caucasus were concentrated in the Talysh Region in southeastern Azerbaijan, especially around Goytepe and nearby areas. Occasionally, tigers ventured into other parts of the Caucasus, following river paths. For instance, the tigers hunted in Karabakh (1846) and near Tiflis (1922) were likely spotted after traveling along the Araz and Kura rivers.

## In literature

In 1912, Abdulla Shaig published the story "Tiger hunting" in the "Gulzar" textbook, which is a part of the work "Koch". The story is about a tiger that appeared in Borchali forests.