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preface
In a vast valley in South Africa, a special group of species live. Here is a wild tiger colony created by artificially mixing with the wild.
In the valley, hidden cameras are everywhere, and tourists who come to visit the tour can accurately find the tigers that are eating or resting under the guidance of the keepers.
The keeper will tell the visitor which tiger is called what its name and which territory belongs to it.
And this special group of tigers are from China thousands of miles away.
They are sturdy, with bright stripes on their bodies, and when the round tiger eyes look at you, you can even see the wildness in its eyes.
They are the South China tigers that belong exclusively to China, and are also known as the "Chinese tigers" in the world. Like pandas, they are all creatures that can represent China, with rare numbers and special varieties, and are one of China's national treasures.
Even in zoos in China, it is rare to see such a large-scale tiger herd.
So how did they end up here in South Africa? What is the reason why the mainland wants to send its own national treasures abroad? When will these South China tigers return home?
South China tigers who are away from home
The so-called tiger roaring mountain forest, the tiger is the lord of a mountain, and in the hearts of everyone, it is also a mighty creature second only to the dragon.
The South China tiger, as a subspecies of tiger endemic to China, has a wide distribution range in China, and its population can be easily found in the mountains and forests of southern China when its population is at its peak.
In fact, in ancient Chinese poetry, calligraphy and painting, there are many depictions of tigers, all of which are South China tigers.
In Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin", the tiger that Wu Song killed in Jingyang Gang was the South China tiger that was active in the mountains and forests. The tiger that the black whirlwind Li Kui confronted was also the South China tiger.
It can be seen that the number of tigers in South China was so large that in the eyes of the Chinese people at that time, there must be fierce tigers in the deep mountains and old forests.
The South China tiger, indeed, once spread throughout almost all of China's woodlands, is also the most numerous.
However, with the change of history, people's hunting and killing of tigers, a species full of treasures, and the destruction of their living woodlands are also increasing year by year, and the population of south China tigers has decreased sharply.
The South China tiger population has become scarce and even endangered every year.
It was only in the 1960s and 1970s, when the country's development gradually stabilized, that it seemed that wild South China tigers were rarely seen.
In 1959, chinese experts saw and captured wild South China tigers for the last time.
At that time, experts captured an adult female South China tiger from the mountains of Bijie, Guizhou, and a male South China tiger captured in Qingzhen, Guizhou, a year ago, and mated to promote the continuation of its race.
Between 2000 and 2001, the State Forestry Administration conducted a large-scale survey of wild South China tigers and their habitats across the country, but found no wild tigers.
After this survey, some foreign scholars believe that the wild South China tiger has become extinct.
The South China tiger, also recognized by the state as one of the top ten endangered animals in China and a national first-class protected animal, is on the list of critically endangered in the red species list and is listed as one of the top ten species of critical endangerment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Today, the possibility of the existence of wild South China tigers is very small, and many experts believe that the South China tiger has become extinct in the wild.
So, why should such a rare species be sent abroad? It's actually for racial continuation.
Due to historical reasons, in China at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the technology in animal breeding and breeding was not particularly advanced, and the research and understanding of many animals was also in its infancy.
In the protection and breeding of South China tigers, domestic professional animal protection institutions have encountered two major problems.
The first point is that the survival rate of South China tiger cubs is difficult to guarantee.
The mainland consciously helped the South China tiger population to continue, beginning in 1955. That year, experts searched the mountains and caught a female South China tiger in the wild in Sichuan.
This South China tiger, named "Macho", as the first wild South China tiger to be captured, has a pedigree number of "1".
Unfortunately, however, the "macho" did not participate in the breeding of the South China tiger.
Although it was captured at a suitable age for breeding, the country has not found another male, wild South China tiger, to be paired with since then.
Therefore, it was not until the "mammoth" was kept in captivity, beyond the optimal reproductive age, that the state captured a wild male South China tiger in Qingzhen, Guizhou, in 1958.
There was a breakthrough in the problem of hard breeding, but then experts found that it was difficult for South China tigers to survive in captivity.
Of the 266 juveniles recorded, 117 died within 30 days of life, a mortality rate of 44 per cent.
Even adults will eventually decline in their survival rate due to various problems in breeding. Among adult individuals, the mortality rate is 4% to 5% at the age of 4 to 12 years, and the mortality rate increases beyond the age of 13 years.
The second point is that the south China tigers raised have lost the might and domineering spirit of the tigers.
Because the breeding and breeding of South China tigers is very difficult, the domestic staff always treats south China tigers as much as possible.
But that raises another question, a group of tigers that have been carefully cared for and raised, or are they tigers?
They never actively attack humans, or even wild creatures such as deer, planers, and hares that are used as food.
Even some South China tigers have also been vulnerable to fright. A fat and strong tiger will hide behind the keeper whenever the wind blows.
It's not so much a tiger as it is a sheep in tiger's skin.
Such a South China tiger is impossible to leave the zoo and return to the wild.
It should be known that the ultimate purpose of artificial breeding and breeding of these endangered species is to hope that they can return to nature, so as to make up for the lack of ecological chain positions and make people and nature live in more harmony.
Just when the country was suffering from headaches because of the wilding of the South China tiger, a Chinese female master who had studied abroad for many years appeared in the field of vision of the China Animal Protection Association with her carefully prepared solutions.
Domestic experts, who had not heard of this female master named Quan Li before, had information about it. Because this female master is not a professional in the field of animal research and conservation at all.
Many years ago, after graduating from Peking University, Quan Li came to the well-known Wharton School in the United States to study, got a master's degree in business administration, devoted herself to the Italian fashion industry, and married the rich vpro in the United States.
Her most frequent and active circle is the business circle of the upper middle class in the United States.
But it is such a Chinese girl who seems to be completely incompatible with animal protection, but in fact, she has always paid attention to the news of domestic animal protection.
In particular, during a trip to Africa in 1998, she witnessed the domesticated wild leopard in the wild, which could not be integrated into the wild hunting life.
After the tragic case of eventual starvation, she turned her attention to incidents involving the wilding of animals.
So when Quan Li came to the China Animal Protection Association to apply for the qualification of wild domestication of the South China tiger, she was ready for everything.
Quan Li herself, since 1999, has returned to China.
She personally went to the various zoos in China that domesticated the South China tiger at that time, and also went to the mountain forests in the south-central region where the South China tiger lived to do field research, and deeply understood the domestication status and wildness of the South China tiger in China.
In October 2000, Quan Li established the "Save the Chinese Tiger" International Federation in London, England.
She consulted widely with relevant professionals from all over the world, formulated a detailed plan for the wilding of the South China tiger, and began to look for suitable areas for experimental bases around the world.
Quan Li's first choice is naturally the native hometown of the South China Tiger.
Therefore, she went to the China Animal Protection Association, in addition to applying for the qualification of wild domestication of South China tigers, she hoped that with the help of the Chinese government, she could find an area suitable for the survival of South China tigers and use it as an experimental base.
Quan Li's idea is very beautiful, but the reality makes her plan suffer repeated setbacks.
Although the original living environment of the South China tiger is mountain forest, as an experimental base for wild domestication, mountain forests are obviously not the optimal choice.
After all, the mountains are densely forested, the humidity is large, and there are many wild animals, which is not suitable for humans and equipment for a long time.
After two years of searching, Jelly finally compromised and chose to build a base in South Africa.
She uses her husband's money from vPro and self-raised donations from all walks of life.
For $4 million, 17 ranches, totaling 350 square kilometers of land, were acquired in South Africa and named "Tiger Valley", inviting professionals from around the world as staff.
It was also the largest wild tiger training base in South China at that time.
Because of Quanli's sincerity and sufficient preparation, the mainland also generously transported 2 tigers at once, and in the next 5 years, a total of 5 tigers were successively lent for wild domestication experiments.
However, many domestic experts still maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards this project, for two main reasons:
One is because of the environmental problems of the training base; The second reason is because the wild domestication of animals is a long and tedious process.
As it turns out, the suspicions of experts are not entirely unreasonable.
After the first toughest decade, the domestication project has achieved some results, and the "Tiger Valley" has indeed had operational problems.
Return to China is indefinite
In November 2002, Quanli and the State Forestry Administration signed the "Cooperation Agreement on the Wild Release plan of China's tigers".
This also means that although there are many voices in China that doubt Quanli's project, the state still chooses to believe Quanli.
The mainland promised to provide a sufficient generation of South China tigers to carry out wild domestication experiments for Quanli, but Quanli needed to send the second generation of tigers back to China after wilding in the later stage.
In September 2003, the under-one-year-old South China tigers Cathay Pacific and Hope were safely sent to the Tiger Valley in South Africa after a 29-hour long flight.
This vast and fertile area, once owned by many local farmers, is still faintly visible on the land, when barbed wire fences and wooden stakes were erected to protect the sheep.
The reason why Quan Li chose this area is also because the ecological environment in this area is relatively good.
There are abundant aquatic plants here, including wild herbivores, such as warthogs and antelopes, as well as predators such as jackals, which can serve as natural competitors for tigers.
Running through the entire reserve is a local river called the Orange Yellow River. All kinds of wildlife living in the reserve come here to drink water, and it is also one of the best places to watch tigers.
In the beginning, the process of wild domestication was not bad, especially "Hope", which was highly receptive to wilding.
After just over a year of wild domestication, Hope was able to hunt antelopes in the wild and learn to hide food.
In 2004, in order to speed up the breeding of tigers, a pair of male tigers "Tiger Woods" and female tigers "Madonna" born in Shanghai Zoo were sent to South Africa again.
Just when Quan Li was full of expectations for the next good development of the "Tiger Valley", the most lively little tiger "Hope" was soon dead in a foreign land because of the water and soil.
And another healthy tigress, Cathay Pacific, is not very optimistic about its wilding.
The courage of "Cathay Pacific" is very small, and the staff will put the live guinea fowl in front of it, and it will be scared to hide.
Even after repeated guidance, "Cathay Pacific" has been able to successfully kill the guinea fowl, but for the chicken that has not faded, it does not know how to bite.
In 2005, in order to make up for the departure of "Hope", the male tiger "327", who was born in Suzhou Zoo, also came here.
With the gradual maturity of this batch of tigers, whether the pairing and breeding of South China tigers can be completed in their natural state has become the focus of attention of Tiger Valley and all people who care about Tiger Valley.
In the absence of manual intervention in the wild, Quan Li can only use the prey with the staff to try to make contact between the male tiger and the female tiger, and under repeated attempts, the female tiger "Cathay Pacific" and the male tiger "Tiger Woods" have a relationship.
On November 23, 2007, Tiger Valley welcomed the first batch of tigers paired and born in their natural state, and Cathay Pacific gave birth to the male tiger "Tiger Purr".
This is the first time that the South China tiger has been born abroad, which not only saved the Chinese tiger project, but also made the fate of the South China tiger a glimmer of light.
For the South China tiger population, Cathay Pacific is a heroic mother.
In the following years, the tigresses Cathay Pacific and Madonna gave birth to many tiger cubs in Tiger Valley.
The wild domestication of these cubs is much easier than that of the first generation of parents who once underwent artificial breeding.
Although some of the young tigers are killed by carnivores and other tigers because of the completely wild environment, the overall survival rate is much higher than that of artificial breeding.
Just when everyone is full of joy and believes that the wild domestication of the South China tiger has reached a new level, the operation of the "Tiger Valley" has a big problem.
Although it is a very gratifying thing to see tigers breeding and gradually developing in the direction of wilding, since tiger valley began to operate in 2002, it has been in a state of only investing money and not making money.
Because this project, which is itself a semi-charitable project, did not take profit as the main purpose at the beginning, the reason why it can be established is also because of Quanli's passion for animal protection and the love of her husband Bo Rui for his wife.
But it's clear that VPro underestimated how much the project burned.
In the early days of the "Tiger Valley", the couple invested a lot of money to buy land, and it is said that they compensated a lot of money because of the influence of local forces in South Africa, and the actual cost was far more than 4 million US dollars.
In the later period, in the operation and maintenance of "Tiger Valley", they have also been investing a lot of money.
In order to allow the South China tiger from China to better adapt to the geographical environment of South Africa, Quan Li spent a lot of money to transplant a large number of endemic plants from China to enrich the vegetation of the South African valley.
In addition to some of the local animals in the South African Valley, Quan Li also specially imported wild boars, robes and other animals that South China tigers are accustomed to eating from China, which is a huge expense.
As the pressure of money continues to increase, Quan Li's husband, the banker Vpro, is a bit overwhelmed.
In order to alleviate the financial pressure, her husband Bo Rui began to invite some friends to come to the "Tiger Valley" for tourism, trying to develop the tourism value of the "Tiger Valley" and thus reduce the financial pressure.
But such an act undoubtedly violates Quan Li's pure charity wish, and she does not want humans to disturb the tigers in the "Tiger Valley".
As a result, the couple has frequently quarreled over this matter since 2005. The operation of "Tiger Valley" has also been greatly affected by the conflict between the two responsible persons.
The second-generation tigers such as "Tiger Purr", who were originally planned to return to China around 2014, were also indefinitely shelved because of this matter.
In 2013, the quarrel between the two finally reached a critical point, and the two sides did not give in to each other and made trouble in the courtroom.
The outside media has paid a lot of attention to this matter, and the major media in the United Kingdom are competing to report on the divorce case of the two. At that time, the husband and wife blamed each other and embezzled the foundation's money to maintain a luxurious life.
In the end, the divorce lawsuit ended with the failure of Quan Li, who had to publicly release the news and completely withdrew from the federation he founded.
Her ex-husband, Bo Rui, announced that he would continue to stay in the "Save the Chinese Tiger" International Federation and contribute to the protection of the South China tiger.
Later, the International Federation of "Saving Chinese Tigers" still closed its offices in various countries on a large scale because of financial problems, and the offices in Beijing were not spared, and China lost its first-hand source of information about the "Tiger Valley".
Although Quan Li left the "Save the Chinese Tiger" International Federation, which she founded, she is still active on the international stage, promoting China's South China tiger to the world, and doing her part to protect the South China tiger.
When she was interviewed by the media, she was once asked: "What do you want to pay so much?" ”
In this regard, Quan Li's answer is very calm:
"In my personal capacity, it may be difficult to reverse the trend that the Chinese tiger will become extinct, but now that the Chinese tiger is not extinct, there is still hope."
"Even if it goes extinct, at least during the rescue, I did what I could do!" I don't regret it! ”
On the other hand, Bo Rui has always refused to disclose the financial details of "Tiger Valley" to the public, and his attitude towards letting the second generation of tigers return to China according to the contract is vague.
Today, the first five South China tigers sent to South Africa have a population of up to 30 in continuous breeding, and the wild is also on the right track.
However, their return date has become far away.
Although there are many animal protection volunteers in China who are closely following the progress of this matter, with the epidemic raging in South Africa, the return date of these South China tigers is obviously going to be postponed indefinitely.
End
Animal protection has been an eternal proposition of human society since ancient times.
Utilitarianly speaking, without wild animals, then humans themselves cannot survive. Therefore, the ecological chain of protecting wild animals is in fact protecting the development of human beings themselves.
To put it mildly, to protect wild animals is to protect the uniqueness of living things on the earth. Every endangered biological group shows that it is impossible to be copied, and it belongs to their beauty.
The pattern on the South China tiger is a kind of short and narrow stripe, the spacing of the stripes is larger than that of the Bengal tiger and the Northeast Tiger, and the diamond-shaped pattern often appears on the side of the body, which is closer to the direct ancestor of the tiger - the ancient Chinese cat.
Although there are many other types of tigers in this world, the beauty of the South China tiger is unique, and the pattern on its body is not replicable.
If this population becomes extinct, the mainland will never see the graceful South China tiger again, and people at that time can only remember it through photos and images, which belongs to China's precious species.
The tiger's position in Chinese culture has long been deeply rooted, and once it disappears, it will be a major loss to Chinese culture.
Saving the Chinese tiger is actually saving our culture, which is a social responsibility as a Chinese.
"Protecting animals is everyone's responsibility" should not be an empty slogan.
For ordinary people, it is our responsibility not to harm wild animals, not to eat wild animals, and even to report others to harm wild animals.
If we have extra effort and money, maybe we can also invest a lot of money and energy to protect wild animals like Quan Li.
But at the same time, we must also maintain a good personal life. It is not a bad thing to devote yourself wholeheartedly, but people who do not have this kind of mind around them should not be affected, otherwise fierce contradictions will break out.
Just like Quan Li and her husband, they eventually parted ways because of the good thing of protecting the South China Tiger, which is good for the country and the people.
Finally, I hope that the 5 South China tigers in a foreign country can return to China as soon as possible and take a look at the scenery of their hometown.