Society

Protection tour launched for Siberian tiger

By Liang Chao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-22 11:07

China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), the country's largest organization of its kind boasting more than 300,000 members, has launched a new wildlife protection tour calling on the public to show more concern for the world's most endangered wild species.

Entitled the Subaru Eco-system Protection Tour and founded by Subaru of China, a Japanese manufacturer of sports utility vehicles, the campaign will allow car owners and the media to visit Huichun Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve bordering Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Northeast China's Jilin province.

With one million yuan ($147,101) sponsored for this year by Subaru China, CWCA will give 75 people a reward for their efforts in protecting China's fragile eco-system and endangered wild species like the giant panda and crested ibis and particularly the Siberian tigers, Zang Chunlin, CWCA's secretary-general, said at a press conference on Monday in Beijing.

The prize will cover different groups and individuals, including the armed police and soldiers fighting against poachers, schools and students, social groups and media involved in the education of the protection, he said, "it will be rewarded to winners selected across the country by CWCA, experts and media at the year end as we did in the past two years."

CWCA has set up its first-ever fund aimed at rewarding groups and individuals engaged in protecting wildlife and the eco-systems since 2008 with the help of Subaru China.

Even since, it has raised 2.1 million yuan with 96 groups and individuals involved in the protection across the country being picked and rewarded.

This year, Zang said he hopes the move can serve as a platform for more environment conservators and enterprise to join their effort to push forward the protection of China's ecosystems and wildlife for the sake of the future generations.

The Siberian tiger, mainly found in Russia's Far East, China's northeastern provinces and on the Korea Peninsula, is listed as one of the world's top-10 endangered wildlife species, with no more than 400 thought to be left alive in the wild.

The number of wild Siberian tigers left in China is thought to be less than 20. They are mainly distributed in the Less Hingan Mountains in Heilongjiang Province and the Changbai Mountains in Jilin, both in Northeast China.