(CN) Saving tigers from extinction

[Guest guest]

China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-04-18/66244.html

 

(WANG YUANCHANG and SUN QI)

04/18/2002

 

The Manchurian Tiger Park, founded in 1986, is located at the northern

outskirts of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Home to the largest herd of Manchurian tigers in China, the park attracts a

continuous flow of visitors each year.

 

Tigers in the park roam freely through their manors, capturing and killing

other animals provided by workers, and are just as ferocious as those living

in the wild.

 

Visitors are allowed a rare glimpse of the wild side of tigers from a

specially-reinforced car that regularly travels around the park.

 

On our recent visit to the park, a female tiger crossed our path, and laid

down in front of our car. The driver had no choice but to throw the tiger a

piece of fresh meat in order to free our path. The tiger got to her feet,

snatched the meat and moved on. Fighting between the tigers for possession

of the manors sometimes results in killing and, in one case, injuries.

 

But visitors can find park rangers patrolling the park to prevent such

incidents.

 

In 1998, during mating time, a male tiger attacked a female tiger,

fracturing two of her ribs and leaving a cavity in her chest. Doctors did

their best to save her life but she died.

 

Although tragic, this accident, some experts said, shows that the tigers in

the park have regained their inherited wild nature. That is the goal of the

park, since Manchurian tigers cannot survive in the wild unless they

maintain their basic nature.

 

Manchurian tigers are endangered species under protection according to the

law.

 

China launched a campaign to protect Manchurian tigers in 1986, setting up

the Manchurian Tiger Park.

 

Experts have tried to increase the tiger population using artificial

reproduction technology before releasing them to the wilderness. In the past

two years, they have occasionally spotted Manchurian tigers in Heilongjiang

and Jilin provinces, which was seen as an encouraging indication of the

success of a year-long effort to protect the species.

 

So far, more than 20 nature reserves for tigers have been set up in China.

But many difficulties still remain in the effort to save tigers.

 

Tough job

 

The biggest problem is a lack of funds from the government and local

communities. Another is that even if the number of tigers can be

substantially increased, releasing the animals to the wilderness remains a

tough job, as tigers brought up by humans may find it hard to adapt to their

natural environment, experts said.

 

It is necessary to keep working to raise public awareness about

conservation, improve environmental conditions in the habitats of tigers and

promote better law enforcement against poachers and smugglers, experts have

suggested. Hopefully, visitors may one day hear the roaring of tigers again

in the forests of Northeast China where they belong.

 

Tigers belong to the cat family, which has 3 million years of history.

Considered a type of ruling power and authority in the jungle world, tigers

are known as the " King of animals. " Compared with its seven cousins, the

Manchurian tiger is more powerful and larger in size. Most Manchurian tigers

live in Northeast China and the Siberian area in Russia, hence its other

name - the Siberian tiger.

 

Tigers are now on the verge of extinction, with less than 100 found alive in

the wild in China, according to a 1996 survey from the World Conservation

Union and the World Wildlife Fund.

 

At the turn of the century, around 100,000 tigers were living in the wild,

but the number has dropped to 5,000 to 7,500.

 

Most of the tigers were hunted for their bones, claws or other parts by

poachers.

 

Tiger bones have long been used to treat rheumatism and related ailments in

traditional Chinese medicine.

 

Poachers motivated by lucrative profits sought to capture the tigers. The

poachers, along with the tigers' dwindling habitats, are the main factors

hastening the extinction of the species.

 

Since 1990, the number of tigers in the wild has increased, but still no

more than 20 have been found so far.

 

Academic research indicates that the Manchurian tiger will eventually become

extinct, like the dinosaur, unless their numbers can climb up to about

1,000.

 

New home

 

In another development, 50 tigers are taking a journey in a caravan from

their old home in Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

to a better home in Pear Spring National Forest Park in Nanjing, capital of

East China's Jiangsu Province.

 

The 50 tigers, who set off on Tuesday, belong to the same species as South

China tigers, Manchurian tigers and Bangladesh's Royal Bengal tigers. The

tigers, among the world's 10 most endangered wildlife species, have been

bred and brought up at a tiger reproducing base called Xiongsen Bear and

Tiger Safari in Guilin.

 

Three veterinarians and 15 park rangers will accompany the tigers to their

new home, which Guilin safari authorities say provides a better environment

for the tigers.

 

The transport will abide by international regulations to prevent the tigers

from being injured.