Wild at Heart – tigers in Africa?

tiger cub Miss X born this January. (credit: www.savechinastigers.org)

Sometimes it’s not that easy to relax – even watching TV on a Sunday night. Take last night’s episode of Wild at Heart on ITV for example. I settled down to be entertained and watch some African wildlife only to be confronted with a tiger! As far as I know tigers don’t live in Africa – and never have. However while Africa may not be the natural home of tigers the continent is playing an important role in the conservation of one of the rarest sub-species of tiger

Captive bred tigers in South Africa.

A joint Chinese and South African project is seeing captive bred South China tigers, Panthera tigris amoyensis, being moved from China to the South African velds to learn how to hunt and live in the wild. The first of these captive bred South Chinese tigers are due to be re-introduced to reserves in China in just a few months time – the target is April this year for the first stage.

This Chinese sub species of tiger is highly endangered. Some tiger researchers believe that numbers are now so few that the battle has been lost and it’s just a matter of time before the species dies out. This would be of great concern as the sub-species is thought to be literally the mother of all tiger species.

Concerns of weak tiger gene pool.

The plan to re-introduce the tiger back to the wild as already hit problems. One of the first male cubs that was brought to South Africa when the project was established in 2004 died during training. It’s death from pneumonia and heart failure was due to a weak gene pool because of the small number of individuals left in the population. Fortunately tiger cubs have been raised from the remaining male sent to South Africa and the two females used as part of the programme. The captive breeding programme is now producing it’s second generation litters. These cubs have now grown and have learnt how to stalk their prey on the plains of South Africa. two of the offspring are now being prepared to be returned to China and to be re-introduced into the wild at one of three possible reserves.

Rewilding the tiger.

The current home of the tigers at Laohu Valley Reserve in the Freestate Province is a highly guarded and fenced off reserve. The reserve covers 350km² which offers ample space for the tigers to roam. It is an ideal location for the tigers to learn how to hunt and get prepared for re-introduction into the wild. Unlike in their natural territories there is ample prey for them to practise on. Experts are hoping that the skills the tigers learn to kill the African ungulates such as antelopes will be just as effective against their Asian prey of deer and boar.

The start of the project was controversial in conservation circles. Question were raised over the costs associated with the programme. A number of tiger specialists thought the money would be better spent on tiger species that had a greater chance of survival. There were questions over the viability of the remaining tiger gene pool. Questions were raised over the ethics of transferring the breeding and training programme out of Asia and into Africa. 

Re-introducing the tiger to China.

Seven years on the programme is moving towards it’s goal of re-introducing captive bred tigers back into the wild. Soon the project will find out whether the effort has been worthwhile. Experts are positive about the possible outcome and this could very well be another major success for Chinese wildlife.

Could the South China tiger programme be as effective at bringing this species – one of the rarest on the planet – back from the brink in much the same way as the panda breeding programme. China has the financial strength to fund these cutting edge projects. Will it also have the political will to tackle the problems that has caused tiger numbers to fall to such low levels?