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Did you know that there are only between fifty and sixty South China
tigers left in Chinese zoos and that none has been seen in the wild for
over twenty years? “I’ve never even heard of the South
China tiger!” I hear you cry…don’t worry you’re not alone.
Of the eight subspecies of tiger, three are now extinct. The Bali tiger
was wiped out from the effects of deforestation and poaching in the
1940s, the Caspian in the 1970s and the Javan tiger in the 1980s. The
remaining five are the Bengal, Siberian, Sumatran, Indochinese and the
South China tiger. Of these the South China tiger, (pantheris
tigris amoyensis) or Amoy also known as Xiamen or the Hunan tiger
and thought to be the antecedent of all tigers, is the closest to
extinction yet unbelievably receives the least amount of attention and
funding.
The
tigers we see on TV and in books are usually: Bengal, Siberian, or
Sumatran it is very unlikely that you will have seen a South China tiger
in a documentary or even in a photograph. Due to the many captive
breeding programs it is unlikely that tigers will ever become extinct,
the high profile of the Bengal and Siberian subspecies has secured
interest and funding lifting the numbers in captivity to the extent of
excess. Unfortunately the South China tiger has had no such exposure and
has been left to rely on a few dedicated conservationist and researchers
who have carried on with the thankless and seemingly impossible task of
saving this subspecies from extinction.
Most of the remaining captive South China tigers are old or diseased due
to inbreeding and malnutrition, and have descended from only eight
founders. This is probably
why many experts have given up on them. The high profile Panda breeding
program has successfully nurtured the panda population back to around a
thousand. The wild Siberian tiger population has risen from 250 to 300
in five years, and in the last century the white South African rhino was
revived from only fifty to a staggering 10,400.
This would suggest that it is never too late.
In
the late 1950s there were approximately 4,000 South China tigers in the
wild, ironically in 1959 when the Siberian tiger was acknowledged as an
endangered species, the South China tiger was declared a pest by the
Chinese government and a bounty was placed on its head. The species was
hunted mercilessly for the next twenty years, which along with the
destruction of its habitat has placed this mysterious creature at the
very top of the endangered species list. A survey in 1991 headed by Dr
Gary Koehler and funded by the Chinese government and the WWF, showed
evidence of wild tigers but no positive sightings, so experts have had
to rely on anecdotes and alleged sightings by local villagers. Last year
there were rumours of a male, a female, and three cubs being spotted in
the wild and possibly another male, but it is also alleged that poachers
shot what many believe to be the last one in 1984. Officially none has
been sighted for over twenty years, but experts believe there to be
around twenty still scattered around the south eastern provinces.
In
1984 the practice of tiger hunting in China was made illegal, the
problems facing the South China tiger now are illegal poaching, to fuel
the demand of tiger parts for use in traditional Chinese medicines (see
my article Fools Medicine), and the relentless tide of the human
population. In the spring
of 2001 the first part of a survey funded by the US Fish and Wildlife
Fund, the Chinese government and the WWF, and headed by the respected
tiger expert Dr Ronald Tilson (in conjunction with The Tiger Foundation)
was undertaken in an attempt to census the remaining wild tigers.
Although no tigers were sighted many telltale signs were recorded.
In November 2001 part two of the survey began in Hunan and was
this time funded by the Save China’s Tigers charity. For updated
results of the surveys visit www.5tigers.org
For a copy of the South China Tiger Action Plan go to www.savechinastigers.org
or find a full copy in the back of my novel, The Tiger Chase.
The
good news is the Chinese government is now totally committed to saving
the South China tiger. Extensive education programs for schools and
villagers are taking place, money is being used to reclaim agricultural
land and relocate families that surround the reserves in an attempt to
increase the wild tigers territories and widen the corridors that link
them together. An attempt to eradicate poaching by enacting new laws and
punishments and implementing the help of locals as watchdogs while at
the same time instilling a pride in the knowledge that they can help
restore a natural treasure, are all extremely positive actions.
What
can we do to help save the South China tiger?
Visit the web sites of the tiger charities working to help the
wild tigers such as Save Chinas Tigers, and those listed on The Tiger
Chase web site, read books dedicated to the conservation of the wild
tiger and learn as much as you can about its sad plight.
See what’s being done and what can be done. You can make a
donation, or you may wish to subscribe to their newsletters or
magazines, or even enter a wild tiger adoption program.
When
we think of animals becoming extinct we think of a bygone age when man
plundered the worlds resources without knowledge of the consequences,
yet three subspecies of tiger have become extinct in the last fifty
years, the fourth could join them at the very beginning of this century.
The plight of all tigers in the wild is critical, it is estimated that
Bengal tigers are still shot by poachers and villagers at the rate of
one a day. If serious intervention isn’t taken soon we could lose the
wild tiger forever in as little as five years time.
When
we think of past generations we think of ignorance, we have the
technology to prevent the extinction of one of the most precious animals
on earth yet we do very little, what will future generations think of
us?
By
Andrew McDermott author of The
Tiger Chase
For related articles and tiger links see www.andymcdermott.com
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