In the 1950s and 1960s, the people of Hunan responded to the call for a large-scale reclamation of the endless barren mountains and wild mountains in the province, which triggered a vicious war between humans and tigers. Forced out of the woods, these tigers attack villages and livestock in all directions, and are known locally as "four-legged bandits." In the city of Leiyang, where tigers were most severely affected, more than 120 people were bitten to death by tigers in 1952 alone, and countless poultry and livestock were lost.
It is said that "one mountain does not allow two tigers", but these hungry tigers often accompany each other, especially the "Baihuwei Village" incident that occurred in September 1957 is even more appalling.
At that time, the cattle in Gaoping Village rushed back from outside, alarming the people and dogs in the village. When the dog stopped barking, the villagers desperately banged the gong, both to inform everyone that the tiger was coming, and to scare the tiger. But a large number of tigers still surrounded the village, and the villagers all closed the doors and windows, waiting nervously. The tigers gathered one after another, reaching hundreds. Three days later, tigers began attacking villages, attacking poultry.
Xie Yaozong, a cargo man in his early 30s, came across the "Baihuwei Village" shortly after coming to Gaoping Village, and was horrified, and later told his son about this matter often, feeling incredible. According to the recollection of Yao Rongyi, the party in Gaoping Village, who "beat the tiger county magistrate", the situation of the tiger eating people is unforgettable - "one on the back, one in the stomach, and three together with the mother."
In order to protect the safety of the people's lives and property, hundreds of hunting teams have been set up in various parts of Hunan Province and a vigorous campaign to fight tigers has been launched. The county not only distributes guns to tiger hunters, but also gives each person 300 pounds of sorghum per month as a subsidy, so many villagers have joined the tiger fighting queue. For a time, fighting tigers has become a glorious thing, traps, shotguns, crossbows, explosives, nets, etc. are all common, and every time the tiger fight is over, the county town will definitely hold a meeting to celebrate and commend the "heroes who fight tigers" and "models of killing harm", which can be described as high interest.
But in the 10 years since 1952, tigers have eaten more than 2,000 people.
In this tiger fighting campaign, there were many tiger hunting masters, and on October 9, 1962, the "Hunan Daily" published the deeds of a hunter named Zhong Yongtai in Yanling County, who caught 11 tigers alive, and his number of hunting beasts accounted for two-thirds of the total hunting volume in Yanling County at that time.
According to incomplete statistics, Hunan hunted 647 South China tigers in ten years, and a total of 168 tigers were hunted in Leiyang in the following seven years. Among them, Chen Qifang, the "king of fighting tigers" who fought 138 tigers in Hunan in 7 years, was also personally received by Premier Zhou.
It was not until 1964, when there were really no tigers to fight, that the last tiger hunting team in Hunan was disbanded. At this time, there was no trace of the tiger, and there were no more incidents of tigers hurting people. Only in the deep mountains and old forests, there may still be a small number of tigers, but humans have basically not seen wild tigers since then.
On November 6, 1986, a South China tiger cub was accidentally captured in Anren County, Hunan Province, but the South China tiger cub died 15 days later due to his injuries. This is the last report of a wild South China tiger being captured in the data available today.