(CN) 'Fake-tigergate' hunter feted by forest official

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South China Morning Post

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Klaudia Lee

Nov 26, 2007

 

Just days after Shaanxi government officials were criticised for their roles

over the " fake-tigergate " controversy, a senior provincial forestry official

visited the man who claimed to have photographed the tiger to reaffirm his

support.

Zhu Julong, deputy director of the Shaanxi Forestry Department, said during

the visit on Saturday morning that he " had never wavered in his belief in

the authenticity of the photos taken by Zhou Zhenglong " , the Information

Times reported yesterday.

 

The photos taken by Mr Zhou, a hunter in mountainous Zhenping county in

Shaanxi, purportedly show a living South China tiger - one of the world's

most endangered species and only found in China - in the wild.

 

" I hope to use this home visit to express my support and understanding to

Zhou Zhenglong and to lessen the pressure that he was put under by the

recent media reports and the poster incident, " Mr Zhu said.

 

He was referring to the new twist last week when netizens claimed a Lunar

New Year poster featured a South China tiger that looked remarkably like the

one photographed by the Shaanxi hunter.

 

Heaping praise on the hunter, who sat next to the official in the photos

carried in the newspaper, Mr Zhu said what the hunter did for protecting the

endangered tiger would " certainly leave a heavy stroke " in the history of

the mainland's protection of wild life.

 

Mr Zhou burst into tears and claimed that anybody who cast doubts about his

photos could give him two rounds of ammunition and a gun so that he could

head to the mountains and shoot one.

 

He further asserted that he would even sell his house so he could rent a

vehicle to bring the tiger from Zhenping county to Tiananmen Square to prove

his claims.

 

The official's move came amid rising criticism over local forestry

authorities' handling of the so-called " fake-tigergate " incident.

 

They quickly confirmed the authenticity of the photographs and announced the

comeback of the tiger. The hunter was given a 20,000 yuan reward.

 

With the public outcry showing no sign of abating, a People's Daily

editorial last week described the incident as a farce and criticised the way

provincial authorities had dealt with it.

 

The editorial also accused Zhenping county of wanting to use the tiger to

boost local tourism as it stood to gain national funding to build a nature

reserve for the tiger.

 

But Mr Zhu said that even though a nature reserve was to be built, the local

authorities had little to gain because they would get only 10 million yuan

to build it but then they would have to shoulder all the costs of its

long-term operation.

 

The National Forestry Administration has sent a team to the county to

investigate the sighting, yet so far no decision has been made on the

authenticity of the photos.