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Vertebrates (pdf)
Update on South China Tigers at Meihuashan National Nature Reserve, Fujian Province, China
Ecosystems Ltd. ecosys@pacific.net.hk
Around 6 am on Sunday 20 July 2003 tiger number 4 gave birth to two cubs, increasing the Meihuashan population of captive South China Tigers from 12 to 14. I arrived at Meihuashan National Nature Reserve (MNNR) headquarters two days earlier, traveling from my base in Hong Kong with Paul Hilton, a professional photographer. Saturday morning we visited the nearby Longyan Meihuashan South China Tiger Breeding and Wild-Naturalizing Research Centre (the Tiger Centre) where we learned that a litter of cubs was due any day. Less than 24 hours later two cubs were born.
MNNR covers 22,168.5 ha in Longyan City of southwest Fujian Province. Access to the reserve from Hong Kong is by air to Xiamen, then by bus or taxi 160 km northwest to Longyan City, and a further 35 km northwest to Gutian. The Tiger Center covers 467 ha adjacent to MNNR some 18 km north of Gutian. Detailed physical, ecological, and anthropological descriptions of Meihuashan are given by Coggins (2003). Most of the lush forest cover of the nature reserve and the Tiger Centre has been protected since establishment of MNNR in 1985 and the Tiger Centre in 1998. Access to MNNR is restricted to researchers and government officials.
Tourists are welcomed at the Tiger Centre where captive wildlife can be viewed and a new visitor centre offers meals and souvenirs. New bungalows can be rented for overnight lodging. Over RMB¥20 million has been invested to date, and a specimen museum and additional tourist bungalows were under construction in July 2003. A fenced outdoor enclosure of some 20 ha was built for a herd of 18 Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) that are held in smaller pens for tourist viewing. An adjacent aviary houses breeding populations of Green Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Silver Pheasant (Lophura nycthemera), and Chukar (Alectoris chukar). Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) are held in captivity where some are in need of treatment for mange. The captive populations all serve as tourist attractions.
Tigers are held in a 7 ha portion of the 467 ha Tiger Centre consisting of an office-residence building, a multi-cage tiger holding and viewing area, and three fenced outdoor tiger enclosures. Up to 5 tigers live mostly outdoors in the smallest fenced enclosure of about 1 ha. Others are kept in cages to avoid conflicts between tigers. Contrary to reports on the world wide web (e.g. www.china.com.cn), tigers cannot yet be released to roam the entire 467 ha of the Tiger Centre: There is no perimeter fence to keep them in and no internal fencing to separate tigers from tourists.
The 7 ha breeding and holding facility was near capacity with 12 tigers. Holding such a large captive population strains expense budgets given the estimated annual feeding cost of RMB¥10,000 per tiger. During the second half of 2003 larger enclosures are planned to hold tigers while they learn to feed on wild prey. Some of 12 tigers in the existing 7 ha facility will be moved to the larger enclosures. The new enclosures will be separated from the old by a mountain ridge that will block visual and most aural contact between the sites. From the new enclosures tigers will be released directly to the wild in MNNR beginning no later than 2008 to coincide with the summer Olympic games to be hosted by China.
The total investment in the tiger re-introduction project is often quoted as RMB¥146 million (Eastday.com.cn 22 July 2001). Most of this is in a long-term plan that has yet to be approved, and much of it appears dedicated to capital construction. Some of the budget was approved for buildings, roads and landscaping from 1998 through 2003. Funding for construction and operations after 2003 has yet to be approved. MNNR generates income at a rate of RMB¥20-30,000 per month from tourist gate receipts. This is enough to feed 12 tigers but provides little extra for salaries and other operating expenses (RMB 8.1 yuan = US$1).
The two cubs born on 20 July were the first litter for tiger number 4. They were rejected by their mother and were reared for a few weeks by Tiger Centre personnel. This is a challenge, most importantly in terms of food supply. While goat milk was being used as a short-term substitute for tiger milk I shipped Feline Veterinary DietÔ Kitten Nursing SupportÔ (WalthamÒ ) on my return to Hong Kong. Unfortunately the cubs died before the milk replacer arrived.
The China Action Plan for Saving the South China Tiger (SFA 2001) put the captive South China Tiger population at 62 in June 2000. Since 1998 the Meihuashan population has doubled in size. The SFA (ibid.) target for the captive population at Meihuashan was "at least 10 captive-bred ...cubs before 2007 and [to] prepare an integrated habitat of over 600 square kilometers before 2010 for reintroduction back to nature". Meihuashan has already bred 6 cubs at the Tiger Center and an additional litter was expected in mid-August 2003. This indicates that the breeding program is ahead of schedule and that the emphasis at Meihuashan could shift away from breeding and rearing to preparation of habitats for release of tigers into the wild. This is probably the greater challenge because decades of over-hunting have left little tiger prey in most reserves in south China, probably including MNNR. The 467 ha Tiger Center has adequate land area and high-quality habitat to take the first step toward releasing tigers into the wild. SFA (2001) includes budgets for 5 km of fence, rehabilitation of abandoned farmland, and prey re-introduction. However, a critical shift in thinking will be required at MNNR before release of tigers can begin. The Tiger Centre must become a place where tourists are protected in fenced enclosures and tigers are set free: At present these roles are reversed.
Bibliography
Coggins, C. (2003). The Tiger and the Pangolin: Nature, Culture, and Conservation in China. Univ. Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 339pp.
SFA. (2001). China Action Plan for Saving the South China Tiger. State Forestry Administration, Beijing.
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