Guest guest Posted July 20, 2001 Report Share Posted July 20, 2001 China Daily http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/ (MENG YAN) 07/20/2001 South China Tigers are not extinct as previously thought but their numbers are small, State Forestry Bureau official Wang Weisheng said. Wang was reporting on the result of a study conducted in Central China's Hunan Province that found about six wild South China Tigers in its territory. Among those, two tigers live in Huping Mountain of Beishimen County in western Hunan, one or two in nearby Taoyuan County, two in southern Hunan's Yizhang County and one in Guidong County. These areas are all national or provincial nature reserves. The widespread belief that the tigers are extinct is based on the fact that the immense density of China's human population makes it difficult for them to survive, he said. " However, China still has some place for tigers to roam even though they find it difficult to multiply, " he said. Preserving more habitat area for these creatures is crucial, Wang insisted. " The contact between individual tigers has become more unusual as they can move only in the limited areas that are their territory, " he added. Hunan is a key historic home to South China Tigers. The cats were found in towns in northwest Hunan's Zhangjiajie until 1952, forestry officials said. Yet large-scale hunting, deforestation, expanding farms and fertilizer pollution have dwindled their numbers. Their prey, too, has suffered, leaving the tigers with little food to hunt. The result is a precipitous drop in tigers. A study between 1990 and 1992 found between 20 and 30 remaining in the wild, showing a subspecies on the brink of extinction based on their habitats in Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. The survey on wild animals in the province also found that jackals, wolves and Asian deer, once widespread in the province, were extinct. The South China Tiger, the most endangered tiger subspecies, is unique to China and is under State-level protection. Wang's bureau, a watchdog for the nation's wild animal conservation, began two decades ago to try to save the tigers and secure natural habitats for them. The measures to protect them include cracking down on poaching, setting up new nature reserves and enhancing protection of existing nature reserves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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