South China TigerRemedial breeding after the tragedy

Chinese endemic specie.Early in the 1950s， there are still more than 4，000 South China tigers in our country. However，due to the excessive hunting and habitat loss，in 1980s， the wildSouth China tiger cannot be discovered any more in the South China tiger distribution area.

From 1990 to2001， China's State Forestry Administration （SFA） carried out several special investigations in the original distribution area of the South China tiger， but no exact existing evidence of the South China tiger was found. The collected suspected South China tigers activity traces are very fragmented， and several fractures exist both in space and time. In 2002， based on these investigations， some experts came up with the idea that the wild South China Tiger is "functionally extinct". Although it could not be concluded that wild South China Tiger population is already extinct， it is a reality that the wild South China tiger is difficult to achieve self-recovery and sustainable development. At present， there are more than 100 captive South China Tigers in China， scattered in a dozen zoos throughout the country. Limited by the factors of breeding conditions， management and inbreeding，the South China tiger population develops slowly.

In 2002， China's State Forestry Administration （SFA） launched a tiger reintroduction program， and five South China tigers were sent to the wild inSouth Africa. Tigers trained in wild restored the basic hunting skills and achieved natural reproduction in semi-freestate.Then SFA decided to implement the tiger reintroduction project.To select the best place for reintroduction， the introduction places are limited to the National Nature Reserve of the related provinces where South China tiger lived in 1950s. Meanwhile， the area should be no greater than100 square kilometers and there is no resident in the project area.