Year of the Tiger

News on big cats: Tiger population rapidly shrinks in China

Discovery News has alarming figures on the decline of tigers in China. The South China tiger might already be extinct, according to the report Monday. The report also said fewer than 50 wild tigers remain in China.

Xie Yan, director of the China program for the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said that just 20 years ago tigers still roamed across large swathes of China.

But based on data from the year 2000, there are only around 15 Bengal tigers left in Tibet, 10 Indochinese tigers in China's southwest, and around 20 Siberian tigers in the northeast, she told reporters.

China banned international trade of tiger bones and related products, but there's weak law enforcement and land degradation is also a big problem.

READERS: This is so distressing. The article states nearly 4,000 tigers lived in South China in the 1950s. Now they're extinct? The WCS has information on how to help raise awareness and help out in other ways.
A century ago, more than 100,000 big cats roamed the Earth, but stocks have plummeted: scientists say there are now just 3,200.

China, once home to thousands of wild tigers, has fewer than 50.

"The best population in China is in the northeast, with the Amur or Siberian tiger, where we estimate there are about 20 left," says Xie Yan of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Even as recently as the 1980s there were still "abundant" stocks of tigers in China, Xie said Monday.

But not anymore.

"The South China tiger – in the wild – may already be extinct," said Xie. Indeed, there have been no sightings of the South China sub-species since the 1970s.

The rest of China's tigers, about 10 Bengali and 10 Indo-Chinese, inhabit Tibet and other parts of the country.

India has the largest number of wild tigers with almost 1,400.

The biggest threats in China are habitat loss and illegal hunting.

Motivated by money, poachers continue to supply a ready market in China, where many believe tiger parts, have medicinal properties.

"Chinese people think tigers can help strengthen the body and use it as a tonic," explained Priscilla Jiao of TRAFFIC East Asia, which tracks trade in wildlife.



There are still people who believe tiger bones have a "magic" function, she said. Some believe the bones help rheumatism; others feel they are an aphrodisiac, said Jiao.

Tiger hunting is illegal worldwide and trade in tiger parts is banned in more than 160 countries.

In China, internal trade in tiger skins, bones and parts has been outlawed since 1993. Still, an underground market persists.

Complicating matters are entrepreneurs who've started tiger farms, breeding tigers in captivity believing that the government will one day allow the sale of tiger parts.

The tiger lobby argues that a market based on captive tigers would relieve pressure on wild stocks.

Conservationists, however, disagree. They say the very existence of commercial farms just perpetuates the market for tiger parts.

Worryingly, investment in tiger farms appears to be growing. In 2007, there were just five such farms in all of China, says a report by the International Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Today there are reportedly 14. The farms have bred nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity.