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South China
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The South
china tiger is the most endangered of all the tiger species. Found in central and eastern
China, it is estimated that only 30 to 80 South China tigers still exist in the wild.
Currently 48 South China tigers live in 19 zoos, all in China. Wild Tigers: China China is unique among tiger range countries because four of the surviving tiger subspecies at one time lived within its borders: the Siberian tiger in the far northeast bordering Russia and North Korea; the South China tiger (which is considered the
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evolutionary antecedent of all tigers) in the central parts of China; and the Indochinese and Bengal tigers in the far south bordering Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Assam (India). The tiger is a favorite subject of Chinese artists, depicted as fierce and powerful. The current status of wild South China tigers is vague. Only 40 years ago there were reputed to be more than 4,000 tigers, but the government declared them pests, and they were hunted mercilessly. A 1987 field survey by Chinese scientists reported a few tigers remaining in the Guangdong mountains bordering Hunan and Jiangxi, and another survey in 1990 noted evidence of about a dozen tigers in 11 reserves in the remote mountains of Guangdong, Hunan, and Fujian Provinces of South China. No tigers were seen. The only sightings were unreliable stories from old hunters who had quit the business (or so they said). A 1995 unconfirmed report from the Ministry of Forestry suggests that the wild population is fewer than 20 individuals. The current situation is that no wild tigers have been seen anywhere by Chinese officials for more than 20 years. The Chinese Ministry of Forestry lists 21 reserves within the presumed range of the tiger, and Chinese specialists believe between 30 and 80 tigers are still left in the wild. The last time a wild tiger was seen in the wild was 10 years ago These facts suggest that the South China tiger is the rarest of the five living tiger subspecies, the most threatened, and the closest to extinction.
