快猫短视频

You might think it strange to introduce Chinese tigers to South Africa, but the conservationist has good reasons for doing so

How bad are things for the south China tiger?
The south China tiger is the , with fewer than 30 in the wild and around 60 in captivity. It is also the most ancient tiger species and has been an important part of Chinese culture for thousands of years. I had to try to save it.

You鈥檝e set up a re-wilding programme for the tigers, but in South Africa, not China. Why?
Wildlife management is an art, and it鈥檚 one in which South Africa excels. China is still poor and if people are hungry they will hunt wildlife. Poverty alleviation is the Chinese government鈥檚 priority, so there鈥檚 little money for conservation. There is also wholesale loss of the prey animals on which large predators survive. We have no time to lose, and I persuaded the Chinese government that we should re-wild the tigers in a 600-hectare reserve in South Africa while restoring their habitat in China in preparation for their return.

What does re-wilding entail?
We provide young tigers, during their learning phase, with an environment in which they can develop their hunting instinct. Our first four cubs came from Shanghai zoo, where they had been living in cramped conditions in concrete cages. They had never seen grass before, nor dealt with whole carcasses. In the wild, the mother would bring small-sized prey to her cubs at first, so we provided smallish game for them to learn to hunt, then we introduced them to larger prey species. Slowly, through trial and error they figured out that the funny, running 鈥渢oys鈥� they used to chase were their food. It took about 18 months for them to become efficient hunters.

You have attracted a good deal of criticism. What is your response?
I think we are criticised because we are trying to break new ground in tiger conservation. People said captive-bred tigers could never learn to hunt, or that the south China tiger is so endangered it is a waste of effort and we should focus on other subspecies. Some critics simply baulk at the idea of tigers in Africa. But tigers are known to be super-adaptable 鈥� they range from tropical Sumatra to icy Siberia. Anyway, our ultimate goal was always to return the re-wilded tigers to their natural habitat in China.

How many tigers do you have in your reserve?
We have 12 animals, eight of which were born here in South Africa.

Several deadlines for returning tigers to China have passed. What are the hold-ups?
People living in the nature reserves in China identified as tiger reintroduction sites still need to be resettled before we can bring predators there. Then we must ensure sustainable populations of prey species are available. Everyone in China鈥檚 wildlife department is working to bring back the first tigers this year. We鈥檒l send two to start with and monitor their adaptation to the environment in a limited enclosure. If that goes well we鈥檒l send subsequent tigers back to the large reserves.