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Shots of tiger in the wild not real
By Ma Lie and Luo Hongyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-30 07:09

Shots of tiger in the wild not real

Bai said police have seized the old tiger photograph, which Zhou borrowed from a farmer in another village in September to fudge his photos. A tiger paw made of wood, which he used to create pug marks on snow, has been seized too.

Zhou had insisted that he "risked his life to take the photos of a real tiger".

A policeman displays the wooden model of tiger claw used by farmer Zhou Zhenglong to create the fake photo of "south China tiger" at a news conference in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, June 29, 2008. [Xinhua]

The 13 officials penalized for the scandal include:

Zhang Shenian, provincial forestry department head - he was reprimanded;

Zhu Julong and Sun Chengqian, provincial forestry department deputy heads - both were sacked;

Guan Ke, provincial media official - sacked;

Wang Wanyun, a provincial official in charge of wildlife preservation - sacked;

Li Qian, official with the wildlife preservation in Zhenping county - sacked.

Seven others, including Zhenping county magistrate and deputy magistrate, have either been reprimanded, given demerit points or sacked.

Photo site identified

Police have found the exact spot where Zhou took the photos. It is in Madaozi forest, 15 km from Wencai village in Zhenping, and is 2,000 m above the sea level, Bai said. "It is a small area with few tall trees not a suitable habitat for a tiger."

Police discovered that the "trees" near the South China tiger in Zhou's photograph were just 0.8 cm in diameter. And calculations showed the "tiger" would have been only 27 cm long.