BREEDING TIGERS IN CAPTIVITY IN CHINA

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http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/811/2006/03/02/48 (AT) 57336 (DOT) htm Population

of Artificially-bred Tigers Exceeds 4000 in China 2006-03-02 17:55:34

CRIENGLISH.com Artificial breeding has helped the population of the

tigers raised in captivity in China increase to more than 4,000 from less

than 10 in the early 1990s, the state forestry authorities said Thursday.

 

In recent years, Chinese scientists have made great progress in using

artificial propagation to prevent the extinction of tigers, especially the

extremely-endangered Siberian tigers, whose wild population is predicted to

be no more than 10, said said Zhuo Rongsheng, director of the wildlife and

plants protection department of the State Forestry Administration.

 

To date, more than 1,300 Siberian tigers have been raised in China, said

Zhuo.

 

As the artificially-bred population of tigers increases, China has begun to

launch wild training programs for the tigers to help them live wild like

their ancestors, said Zhuo.

 

" Only if a wild population of tigers reaches a certain stable number, can we

say the species can survive, " said the director, adding the wild training

programs for tigers are going well.

The number of tigers native to China has declined dramatically over the past

10 decades due to human slaughtering and the shrinkage of their natural

habitat.

 

Experts estimate that the number of tigers living in the wild in China is no

more than 100, and no more than 5,000 worldwide. Artificial breeding has

become the major method of saving tigers from disappearing.

 

In an effort to protect the species, China has put tigers under state

protection and banned in 1993 the use of tiger bones as an ingredient in

traditional medicine, said Zhuo.

 

In addition, China has carried out studies on tiger protection and breeding

together with the Republic of Korea, Russia and India, as well as the

international organizations like the World Wildlife Fund.