CHINESE TIGERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

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http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129 & fArticleId=2847333

 

The day Hope died

 

Death means Chinese subspecies is in even more danger of extinction

August 23, 2005

 

By Staff Reporters

 

A rare Chinese tiger brought to South Africa to learn how to hunt has died,

dealing a fresh blow to efforts to save the species from extinction.

 

Born in a Chinese zoo, " Hope " was sent to South Africa as a cub with his mate

" Cathay " in 2003 for a pioneering experiment that was seen by many experts as

the last chance to preserve the species.

 

The project was a " rewilding programme " to encourage the animals to hunt on

their own.

 

" Hope had an infection and he stopped eating meat. He died at the weekend, " said

Li Quan, founder of the Save China's Tigers foundation.

 

The ultimate goal was for them to breed and impart their hunting skills to their

offspring, which would then be sent to a reserve in China.

 

With only about 10 to 30 left in the wild and another 60 in captivity, the

Chinese subspecies of the tiger clan is perched precariously on the brink of

extinction.

 

" There are no cubs this year in Chinese zoos, which really underscores the

urgency of the project, " said Quan.

 

All five tiger subspecies, including the Bengals of India and the huge Siberians

of Russia's far east, are highly endangered.

 

There are only a few thousand of the striped cats left in Asia, where they are

being squeezed out in the face of swelling human populations.

 

Hence the decision to bring some to the land of the lion.

 

Hope and Cathay, now two years old, began hunting birds, but moved on to bigger

prey, successfully killing blesbok - similar in size to the deer that the tigers

would encounter in the wild in China.

 

When it comes to sheer emotive appeal, tigers rival whales and dolphins as

humanity's favourites, with the animals having special spiritual and cultural

significance in Asia.

 

The odds were stacked in the tigers' favour as they were kept in a 600ha camp

where they encountered a large variety of game, including wildebeest.

 

 

In March Hope was examined by a vet, who declared him to be healthy and strong,

weighing around 90kg and expected to grow to 120kg.

 

This was small compared with other members of the tiger group.

 

The preserve - known as the Laohu Valley Reserve - is a huge 33 000ha comprising

17 former sheep farms tucked in a dry and dusty corner of the Free State.

 

Its fairly open and rocky landscape differs markedly from the forested reserves

where the animals raised on the programme will eventually be sent to in China.

 

But if they can hunt in open spaces, experts say, they should find it even

easier to stalk their prey in thick bush.

 

Laohu means " old tiger " in Chinese, but the reserve has only young ones at the

moment.

 

Another breeding pair, Madonna and Tiger Woods, arrived in South Africa from

Shanghai Zoo last October. Both are about a year old and are in the early stages

of their rewilding programme.

 

Every few days they are fed a freshly shot springbok, which the male eagerly

grabs by the neck, wrenching it from his keeper's hands.

 

" It is revealing that the tigers instinctively know to go for the neck, " said

Quan.

 

The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the

springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a

natural-born killer.

 

Save China's Tigers, the charitable foundation behind the project, says there

are only about 30 of the species left in the wild in China, with 64 more kept in

19 zoos across the country. Four decades ago there were 4 000.

 

Cai Qinhui, chief veterinarian of Guangzhou Zoo in southern China, has said the

tigers are more threatened than China's most famous animal, the giant panda.

 

But efforts to protect it had paled in comparison.