(CN) Tigers reclaim wild ways

[Guest guest]

China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-07-30/79953.html

 

07/30/2002

 

FUZHOU: It is drizzling in the four-hectare wildlife park and several South

China tigers are roaming in the grass or lying under a protruding rock.

Nothing remarkable in that, except that these tigers are being trained to

live in the wild, and getting used to the rain is part of the process.

 

There are fewer than 100 South China tigers living worldwide, and only 20 to

30 live in the wild. The rest reside at zoos and the species is listed as

one of the world's ten most endangered animals.

 

But at Meihuashan South China Tiger Propagation and Wildlife Adaptation

Research Centre, in Shanghang County, Longyan in East China's Fujian

Province, a major programme to increase their numbers was launched in 1998.

 

It is hoped the number of South China tigers in Meihuashan will increase

from 8 to 100 by 2010.

 

The programme, which was included by the State Forestry Administration in

its development plan last August, requires a total investment of more than

100 million yuan (US$12.1 million), and spending in 2002 and 2003 will be

20.36 million yuan (US$2.5 million).

 

The programme will establish a natural habitat for South China tigers, with

an area of 467 hectares, where the tigers will have to hunt and kill for

themselves.

 

Fu Wenyuan, a research fellow and tiger keeper with the centre, said three

tigers came from Suzhou Zoo, in East China's Jiangsu Province, in September

1998. Another three came from Guilin Tiger and Bear Mountain Farm, in South

China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in June 2000.

 

" These tigers even feared chickens, goats or human beings as a result of

captivity when they first came here, but through wilderness adaptation

training, the six tigers have shown signs of improving their abilities to

adapt to life in the wilderness, including hunting, " Fu said.

 

The tigers from Suzhou retreat to the cages on cold or rainy days, but the

Guilin tigers prefer the outdoor environment and show stronger capabilities

in capturing animals, Fu added.

 

Two of the Guilin tigers have mated successfully, and the tigress gave birth

to three cubs last July, two of which have survived.

 

" The tigress loved the cubs a lot and fed the two cubs fully on her own,

which suggests a resumption of her natural abilities, " Fu said.

 

The cubs, now one year old, weigh 80 kilograms each. Thanks to the special

training in wilderness adaptation, they both prefer the wilderness rather

than cages, and will take the initiative in attacking and capturing goats.

They have consumed 20 to 30 so far.

 

" Though the South China tigers have regained some of their natural abilities

to hunt and kill for subsistence, the existing tigers cannot fully adapt to

life in the wilderness, and adaptation will only be gradually realized

through generations of younger tigers, " Fu said.

 

Xinhua