Tiger cubs living the wild life in S. Africa
By Qin Chuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-29 00:42

Two South China Tiger cubs born in the Shanghai Zoo this year were to fly to South Africa today to learn to live in the wild.

South China tiger cubs "Madonna" (up) and "Tiger Woods" (down) fly to South Africa today to learn how to survive in the wild at a training centre in Philippolis, Free State. [newsphoto]

It is the second time that South China Tiger cubs are sent there to receive such training.

Two Shanghai Zoo cubs, one male and one female, were sent to South Africa last September.

The two new cubs, also a male and a female, have been named "Tiger Woods" and "Madonna."

Three more cubs will join the four in the next four years and by 2008, about seven will be trained in South Africa, said Lu Jun with the Wildlife Research and Development Centre under the State Forestry Administration.

"The two cubs sent to South Africa last year are in good condition now. They have adapted to the surroundings," he said.

There are fewer than 30 South China tigers, also called China tigers, living in the wild, even less than the number of giant pandas. There are another 60 or so at zoos across the country.

Some experts have warned that the species will die out by 2010 if no measures are taken.

The "going wild" training programme was launched in 2002 as a bid to save the species, said Quan Li, the founder of the "Save China's Tigers" foundation who initiated the programme. The foundation gives financial support to the training in South Africa.

Quan said last year's two cubs are now living in an 76-hectare area and they successfully hunted a bushbuck in July, the first time in their life they hunted and killed their own food.

During their early days in South Africa, the two refused to eat any other meat except beef, she said.

"Bigger animals will be gradually put into the region for them to hunt," she said, adding that the area will be eventually expanded to 6,000 hectares.

Lu said both tigers are now bigger than their brothers and sisters in the Shanghai Zoo.

One thing Lu is happy about is that the female one has shown signs of being ruttish earlier than those of the same age in zoos.

"It is our expectation that the tigers can reproduce by themselves in South Africa," Lu said.

Lu and other experts have also been looking for places for the tigers to live after they come back to China. The first batch of them may be back in 2008.

Two places, Zixi in East China's Jiangxi Province and Liuyang in Central China's Hunan Province, have been recommended to the State Forestry Administration after careful study, Lu said.

The ecosystem in the regions will be improved and the variety and numbers of wild animals will be increased in three or four years, he added.

Quan said ecological tourism will be developed in the regions so that the protection of South China Tiger can be sustained.

Such a practice has been successfully adopted in South Africa in wildlife protection, she added.

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