Hunan Enhances Efforts to Save South China Tigers

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 01, 2002

Hunan Enhances Efforts to Save South China Tigers

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Hunan Province, in central China, will kick off a project which aims to save South China tigers, an endangered species, and improve the living environment of the creatures.

The latest statistics show that at least six wild South China tigers are living in the province which used to be one of the major living places for the tigers.

Gui Xiaojie, an official with the forestry protection department of the provincial forestry bureau, said that the planned project also aims to protect yellow-bellied tragopans, white-necked long-tailed pheasants, white cranes, clouded leopardsand other rare species.

Gui disclosed that within the next 10 years, the province will build a rare pheasant breeding center, a safari park, a wild animal and plant research center, and a center for monitoring wildanimal and plant resources.

According to its plan, the province will have 100 nature reserves by 2010, covering a combined area of 1.3 million hectares,or 6.1 percent of the province's total area.

Less Farmland, More Forest for South China Tigers

In Yihuang County of east China' s Jiangxi Province, which has long been a habitat for the now endangered south China tigers, more farmers have given up their farmland for tree planting in an effort to improve the ecological environment and help the beasts survive.

Some 6,600 rural households from more than 130 villages are involved in an ambitious plan this year to return some 2,000 hectares of farmland to forest and plant 2,000 hectares of trees in mountains.

Sightings of south China tigers have made the remote Yihuang County known to the world. Chinese and foreign zoologists have rushed to the county to do site surveys, and the name of the county has appeared in newspapers worldwide.

South China Tigers

The South China tiger is the most critically endangered of all tiger subspecies. Found in central and eastern China, it is estimated that at most only 20-30 South China tigers still exist in the wild. Currently 47 South China tigers live in 18 zoos, all in China.

The South China tiger is one of the smallest tiger subspecies. Male tigers measure about 2.5 meters (8 feet) from head to tail and weigh approximately 150 kilograms (330 pounds). Female tigers are smaller, measuring about 2.3 meters (7 1/2 feet) long. They weigh approximately 110 kilograms (240 pounds). The short, broad stripes of the South China tiger are spaced far apart compared to those of Bengal and Siberian tigers.

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Less Farmland, More Forest for South China Tigers

China Plans to Return South China Tigers to Nature