A Xinjiang-based exploration and travel company recently offered a reward of one million yuan (US$125,000) to encourage local residents of west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to put more efforts on Xinjiang tiger seeking.
Xinjiang tigers, the world's only tiger species living in the desert, were frequently seen in the Tianshan mountain area and the Tarim River Valley at the end of the 19th century.
Historical records show that the Xinjiang tiger was comparatively small in size with light colored stripped fur. Wild boars were their favorite food.
A Swedish explorer Sven Hedin reportedly once saw a Xinjiang tiger when exploring the Taklimakan Desert around 1900.
According to the records, the Xinjiang tiger was officially said to be extinct in 1916. The reason for its demise is still an enigma.
After long argument among scientists it is now unanimously believed that in the past humans occupied and cultivated so much wetland which was the habitat of the wild boar that the number of the boar reduced dramatically.
Many Xinjiang tigers starved to death. Those which did not starve were killed in the traditional tiger hunts, causing the species to finally became extinct.
However, in recent years, traces of the tiger were regularly being discovered in southern parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Experts say that considering south Xinjiang is a vast territory and with a sparse population, it is quite reasonable to surmise that there could be a few tigers still living.
"We sincerely hope that our move could awake people's consciousness of wild animal protection and help find the Xinjiang tiger as soon as possible", sources from the sponsor company say.
Statistics show that different species of tigers in China such as the Manchurian tiger, the Bengal tiger and the south China tiger were once all on the brink of extinction. With the government's long-term arduous protection endeavor, so far the situation has been improved.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2002)
