Two Chinese Tigers born in captivity flew to South Africa on
Monday from the Capital International Airport in Beijing to learn
how to live in the wild in Africa.
Born in the Shanghai Zoo early this year, they are the first
Chinese Tigers to go to Africa. The female is named "Guotai", or
peaceful country, and the male is called "Xiwang", or hope.
The training is part of an agreement signed last year by the
State Forestry Administration (SFA), London-based Save China's Tigers,
and Chinese Tigers South Africa of South Africa.
According to the
schedule, they will arrive in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa
on Tuesday, via Hong Kong. After two weeks of quarantine at the
National Zoo, they will be sent to a 500-hectare wild zone called
Makopani north of the capital. There three experts will teach them
wilderness survival skills, such as finding their own food.
The Chinese Tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis), from which other
sub-species such as the Siberian Tiger evolved, is a critically
endangered tiger sub-species native to south China. It is listed as
one of the world's ten most endangered animals.
Today, fewer than 30 Chinese Tigers remain in the wild while
about 60 survive in Chinese zoos. Some experts from other countries
predicted that they would disappear by 2010 if they are not well
protected.
China has not sufficiently grasped how to train its tigers,
which has held back the conservation and sustainable development of
Chinese Tigers, said Lu Jun, a researcher of the SFA.
An experimental reserve covering over 100 sq. km. will be set up
in China for the Chinese Tigers, and natural vegetation and other
animal groups will be restored within the reserve, according to the
agreement.
The selection of the reserve will begin in October in south
China, said Quan Li, an official of Save China's Tigers.
All the Chinese Tigers that finish the training will be sent to
the reserve. The first trainees are expected to be reintroduced
into the wild in 2008, coinciding with the Olympic Games in
Beijing.
China should learn from South Africa, which has had a successful
experience in combining wildlife protection with social and
economic development, said an official with the wildlife protection
department of the SFA.
The zone in South Africa is said to have successfully trained
some Siberian Tigers to live in the wild.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2003)