IWMC.org - 2nd Symposium - Issues of Relevance

Status and Conservation of Chinese Tiger Qingwen Li (biography) Department of Wildlife and Forest Plants State Forestry Administration, China

It is well known that tigers were widely distributed in China. There once were five subspecies lived in China among 8 subspecies. South China tiger, which is endemic to China, once distributed in many provinces with large numbers, such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi Province. Amur tiger once scattered in forest zone in northeastern China. But the tigers living in China lost much of their suitable habitat due to human activities and damage of ecological environment, and the population decreased sharply down.

At present, the size of wild population of South China tiger (P.t. amoyensis), Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), Bengal tiger (P.t. tigris) and Indochinese tiger (P. t. corbetti) living in China are less than 120, and the status of distribution are: Amur tiger (P.t. altaica) only distributed on the boundary between the Heilongjiang Province, Russia and Jilin Province of China. The range of South China tiger is limited in Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi Provinces. The Bengal tiger (P.t. tigris) is distributed in Southeast of Tibet and Northeast of Yunnan Province. (P. t. corbetti) is distributed in Xishuangbanna and Lingcang Districts in Yunnan Province and Guangxi Autonomy.

The Chinese Government gives high attention on tiger conservation and conduct lots of work for tiger conservation. First, many laws and regulations for tiger conservation have been published. Early in 1959, the Ministry of Forestry declared the Amur tiger, the giant panda and the golden monkey as rare and precious animals, to conserve them from being killed. The "Act of Wildlife Conservation" promulgated in 1988, enforced all tiger subspecies as the first Grade Nationally Preserved Wildlife to preserve them from hunting strictly. And the "Action Plan for Chinese Tiger Conservation" was compiled in 1998. In order to support international effective conservation of tigers, the State Council issued a special notice for banning using all tiger products in medicinal and the trade in tiger bones, although this was a large economic loss in China.

Although economic difficulty occurred in Hengdaohezi Cat Breeding Centre, more than 30 natural dead tigers are sealed up. In order to conduct habitat conservation, more than 20 reserves have been established. The Chinese Government also highlights international cooperation for tiger conservation and has signed bilateral agreements for tiger protection with both the Indian Government and the Russian Government. From 1990 to 1993, we successfully cooperated with WWF in conducting a survey of South China tigers in the wild. In the public education on tiger conservation aspects, many departments such as government and NGOs conducted many activities, which make the consciousness of wildlife conservation and laws more enforced.

While protecting tigers in the wild, we also have been actively breeding tigers in captivity and conducted concerning studies. Two cat captive-breeding bases were established separately in Heilongjiang Province and Guangxi Province. And by now, a captive-breeding population of Amur tigers lives there with a total above 80 tigers in the base of Heilongjiang Province and 200 in that of Guangxi Province, and approximately 300 in the zoos all over the country. Also, at present, surviving South China tigers bred in captivity all over the country are up to 50. During the above work, much research concerning the breeding of tigers, in captivity has been undertaken and lots of experiences and information are being accumulated. We are conducting tiger secure project in Meihuashan reserve to do more researches for secure South China tiger.

IWMC World Conservation Trust