(CN) Wildlife group: Siberian tiger photographed for first time

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South China Morning Post

Friday, February 7, 2003

http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZUWIOXMBD.html

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing

 

A wild Siberian tiger was photographed in northeastern China

last week for the first time, a conservation group said - an indication that

the increasingly rare beasts are tentatively returning to areas they once

roamed years ago.

 

the image of the elegant animal, also known as an Amur tiger,

was captured on film in the Hunchun Nature reserve in Jilin province by an

automatic ''camera trap,'' the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society

said on Thursday.

 

It said the photograph provided ''strong evidence that tigers

are crossing from the Russian Far East to re-populate previous tiger

strongholds.''

 

The photo represents good news for conservationists in the

mainland, where the poaching of tigers is a longstanding practice fueled by

folk beliefs that parts of the animal can be used for everything from curing

rheumatism to enhancing sexual performance.

 

The dramatic photograph, taken at night, reveals a lithe adult

tiger, its eyes aglow and its orange fur offset by black stripes. It is

gnawing at the innards of a mule it had apparently killed.

 

Staff members at the Hunchun reserve, which the society helped

establish in 2001, set up the camera trap after a local farmer reported that

a predator had killed a mule. Retrieving the film the following day, they

discovered the image of the tiger, which had returned to feed on the

carcass.

 

The wild Siberian tiger, largely indigenous to the Russian Far

East, northeastern China and the Korean Peninsula, is listed as one of the

world's most endangered wildlife species. No more than 400 are believed

alive.

 

Fewer than 20 are believed to be in the mainland - mainly in the

mountains of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, China Daily says. The Chinese

Government's Forestry Administration placed all breeds of tigers under ''key

state protection'' in 2001.

 

The Hunchun reserve sits on the western edge of the Russia-China

border. The Wildlife Conservation Society says it offers a ''corridor of

habitat'' so tigers from Russia can re-populate areas of the mainland where

they once lived.

 

It appears to be working: Siberian tracks have appeared in the

area frequently since the beginning of the year, the official newspaper

China Daily says.