Protected wild tigers feel free to roam again

CHANGCHUN－It has been 12 years since China celebrated the previous Year of the Tiger－a time when the wild Siberian tiger was forecast to vanish from the country. But now, little over a decade later, the nation has triumphed in rescuing the endangered feline.

In 2010, 13 tiger-range countries committed to doubling the global population of wild tigers by 2022. China has run ahead of schedule when it comes to protecting Siberian tigers, also known as Amur or Manchurian tigers.

Feng Limin, a member of a Beijing Normal University research team that monitored the tigers for a decade, notes that, with a high demand for territory, the felines will still be disturbed in traditional nature reserves, where land is always scattered and certain human activities still exist.

In October, China officially designated the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, which spans an area of over 1.4 million hectares in the northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

The latest data shows that the population of wild Siberian tigers in the park has expanded to 50, compared to 27 in 2017, when the pilot project of the park was launched.

The park has implemented a series of measures to protect wildlife, such as withdrawal of factories and mines and forest vegetation restoration.

"It is a turning point in the fate of the Siberian tiger," says Feng.

Chen Xiaocai, director of the park administration's comprehensive department, says that five growing sets of tigers and leopards have been identified. Monitoring data indicates that the number in the park has increased by 5.2 percent during the pilot period.

Nearly 100,000 residents live in the park, according to Li Dongwei, with the park administration's Hunchun bureau, adding that when it comes to wild tigers, the administration has been reinforcing its tracking, early warning and emergency response.

Early in 2006, the Jilin provincial government started to promulgate measures for compensation for personal and property damage caused by protected wildlife. And the park will introduce a commercial insurance mechanism for compensation for tiger-related injuries and damage.

"We are not worried. If the land is ruined by wild boars, or if cattle are eaten, there will be state compensation," says Chen Limin, a local villager.

For those who gave up forest-related livelihoods, the park also managed to help them find other jobs and alternative sources of income, such as beekeeping or becoming forest rangers.

Xinhua