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Details of re-wilding South China Tigers written into book

2010-01-28 08:20 BJT

BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Shortly before the arrival of the Chinese Year of Tiger on February 14, Chinese readers are greeted Wednesday by a work journal recording details of re-wilding the endangered South China Tigers in a South Africa wildlife reserve.

The book, titled "South China Tiger Journal," covers seven years of a training process that helps prepare the once captive tigers, also known as Chinese Tigers, to go back into the wild.

It contains stories of each step of the re-wilding process, from independent predation of chickens to wild antelopes. Anecdotes such as the tigers getting stabbed by porcupines were also included.

Li Quan, principal author of the book, said at the launch ceremony that the book intended to both entertain and educate readers with details of the training process and knowledge of the nature.

In doing this, Li said she hoped the book could raise public awareness of saving the tigers and motivate more people into action.

The South China Tigers, one of the six living tiger sub-species, are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of the ten extremely endangered species. There are only about 70 Chinese Tigers living in captivity in zoos across China.

In the past decade, several animal-conversation teams from in and outside China searched for wild South China Tigers in their original habitats, but found no definitive evidence of their existence.

The re-wilding program aims to establish a conservation model for South China Tigers by creating a pilot reserve in China where the re-wilded tigers could be reintroduced.

The South Africa program is part of a larger scheme, Reintroduction of the Chinese Tigers into the Chinese Wild, which is co-operated by the charitable foundation Save China's Tigers and the State Forestry Administration of China.

Four adult South China tigers, all from Chinese zoos, and their five babies are currently being trained in the reserve in South Africa.

Editor: Du Xiaodan | Source: Xinhua