CNN animal alert: Zimbabwe and China plan tiger diplomacy

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CNN Alerts: animal alert

 

Report: Zimbabwe and China plan tiger diplomacy

09/15/05 07:55 AM, EDT

Zimbabwe, increasingly seeking friends in the east as the West

accuses it of human rights abuses, is extending its diplomatic drive

to the animal kingdom.

Read the full story at

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/09/15/animal.diplomacy.reut/index.html

 

 

Report: Zimbabwe and China plan tiger diplomacy

 

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe, increasingly seeking friends

in the east as the West accuses it of human rights abuses, is

extending its diplomatic drive to the animal kingdom.

 

President Robert Mugabe's government has agreed to send elephants,

zebras and impala antelopes to China in return for four Siberian

tigers, the state-run Herald newspaper said on Thursday.

 

Tourism Minister Francis Nhema said Zimbabwe would soon be receiving

the Siberian tigers -- the largest cats in the world -- for captive

breeding in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.

 

During the Cold War, China regularly donated giant pandas to other

countries as tokens of goodwill in what became known as " panda

diplomacy. "

 

Zimbabwe's wildlife has suffered from rampant poaching and Nhema said

his ministry was ready to do all it could to boost the animal

population and the ailing tourism sector.

 

" We do not have a tiger in this country and we would like to benefit

from the exchange program with China. We have also given them various

animals for breeding purposes in China that include zebra, impala and

elephants, " he told the Herald.

 

Four Chinese tigers -- even rarer than their Siberian kin -- have

already been brought to South Africa to learn how to hunt, although

one has died. The aim is to send their cubs back to their native land

for release into the wild.

 

Nhema was unavailable for comment but the Herald quoted a Parks and

Wildlife Authority manager as saying Zimbabwe was looking at

establishing a number of zoos to breed some endangered species before

releasing them back into the wild.

 

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