When it comes to wild South China tigers, most people ask the question, "Do they still exist?" ”
After the 1990s, there has been no trace of wild South China tigers in China, and many zoologists at home and abroad and scholars of related research believe that wild South China tigers have become extinct.
At present, the number of South China tigers in China is known to be 165, and the number of males and females is halved, but it is heart-wrenching that these 165 are all artificially raised.
If these captive South China tigers are released into nature, will they be able to adapt to the environment and survive successfully?
In 2003, a girl named Quan Li made an attempt to take two captive South China tigers to South Africa for rewilding training, and promised to send the South China tigers back to China and release them into the wild after the rewilding was completed.
Today, what happened to these 2 South China tigers? Was Quanli's experiment successful?
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Quan Li is a native of Beijing, she came from a military family, and has lived a smooth and carefree life since she was a child.
Quan Li has been smart and clever since childhood, and her grades have always been among the best after studying, and she was successfully admitted to Peking University in 1980 and went to the United States for further study after graduation.
Later, Quan Li won an MBA from Wharton and entered the Italian fashion industry as a global brand certification officer at GUCCI.
But no one expected that Quan Li, who was full of wind and water in the workplace, would resolutely choose to resign during the rising period of her career.
After resigning, Quan Li came to the United Kingdom to join her boyfriend Stuart, and the two were classmates at the Wharton School.
While accompanying her lover, Quan Li, who is idle, plans her dream from childhood to adulthood, that is, to go to Africa.
This wish was finally realized in 1997. This trip to Africa also changed her destiny.
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In 1997, Jelly came to Africa with her boyfriend. On one of the hikes, they encountered a herd of lions, and finally under the guidance of a guide, they got away with it.
Seeing that Africa has done so well in wildlife, Quan Li began to reflect, Africans can do it, Chinese why can't it?
At that time, the living environment of Chinese tigers was extremely harsh, whether it was a Siberian tiger or a South China tiger, it was extremely rare, even endangered, and there was almost no wild one.
Knowing the situation, Quan Li was determined to do something truly meaningful.
In 2000, Quan Li established the "Save the 'Chinese Tiger' International Foundation" in Switzerland and reached cooperation with different related institutions in China.
Her boyfriend was also very supportive of her idea, and the two married in 2001.
With the help of her husband Stull, Quan Li bought a 330-square-kilometer plot of land in South Africa to establish a protected area, which later became known as the "Tiger Valley".
After the establishment of the foundation, Quan Li was responsible for the daily work and external contacts of Tiger Valley, while all the funds management of the foundation was handed over to her husband who was born in finance.
When everything was ready, Quan Li proposed her own idea to the State Forestry Administration: to put some of the country's endangered wild animals in the wild training ground, exercise their wild nature, and then bring the animals back to China.
The State Forestry Administration has been unable to start rewilding animals, and Quan Li's proposal has made them see the light of day. They then learned about the precedent of South Africa, which protected several endangered species in this way.
Therefore, the State Forestry Administration decisively agreed to Quan Li's application.
In 2003, with the support of the State Forestry Administration, 2 South China tiger cubs were sent to South Africa, these 2 baby tigers are called "Cathay Pacific" and "Hope", from the name can be seen that these 2 tiger cubs are placed high hopes.
However, the process of training tiger cubs to hunt is not very smooth.
At first, the staff cooked the chickens and then put the food next to the tiger cubs and let the tiger cubs eat it, which was not difficult for them.
Later, the staff threw the slaughtered chicken directly in front of the tiger cub, and the two little guys did not even look at it. After a day of starvation, they reluctantly accepted the food.
After a month of eating raw meat, the 2 tiger cubs gradually adapted to such food, but the ultimate goal of training was not for them to learn to eat, but for them to learn to hunt on their own.
After that, the 2 tiger cubs faced the final challenge - to hunt on their own.
At first facing the live chickens thrown in by the staff, the two little guys were frightened and quickly avoided, and slowly, after many trainings, they finally learned to catch chickens, but they did not dare to eat their prey.
After a long period of rewilding training, the animalism of the South China tiger was gradually stimulated, and the small tiger began to chase larger animals, such as antelopes.
They also became more and more intelligent and skilled in hunting, and in July 2004, the two young tigers successfully caught an antelope for the first time.
Just when these two tiger cubs were undergoing wild training, Tiger Valley ushered in the second batch of "Study Abroad Tiger Cubs", they were "Woods" and "Madonna", and the 4 cubs carried out rewilding training according to the plan.
Because of the previous experience, everything went smoothly.
However, the accident happened.
In August 2005, Hope died of illness.
But fortunately, the remaining 3 are still successful in the wild training, if they can complete breeding and give birth to baby tiger cubs, then the project is not far from success.
Originally conceived, "Cathay Pacific" and "Hope" were a couple, "Woods" and "Madonna" were a couple, because of the unfortunate death of "Hope", they transported a male tiger named "327".
Unexpectedly, because "Cathay Pacific" has become wild, "327" is very afraid of her and does not dare to come closer. At the same time, "Woods" showed interest in "Cathay Pacific".
If this pair can succeed, it is not far from breeding the baby tiger.
In 2007, Tiger Valley finally ushered in a great good news, the tigress "Cathay Pacific", gave birth to two baby tigers in the wild.
At the same time, the story of Quan Li and Tiger also began to spread wildly in China through the media, and just when people were talking about this story of "Beauty and the Beast", Quan Li encountered a huge controversy and emotional crisis.
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Since the project was reported by the media, Quanli has received a lot of praise and praise, and has also received support and donations from many celebrities at home and abroad. But it has also attracted a lot of questions, some people say that they are using this project to circle money.
For this rumor, Quan Li was reluctant to explain too much.
In such an unfamiliar place as South Africa, Quan Li was repeatedly deceived, complained about, and a large amount of money was spent, which once made her feel overwhelmed.
In the most difficult time, Quan Li's husband also took out 1 million US dollars to support her cause, although various institutions also gave financial support, but those were far from enough, most of the expenses still came from Quan Li and his wife.
Fortunately, the incomprehension of the outside world did not bring any negative impact to Quanli, because she has always had the support of the people she loves the most, and even in order to support and help her, her husband also quit his high-paying job.
But then because of insufficient funds, the husband had to return to work to earn money.
All along, her husband has been Quan Li's deepest reliance. The funny thing is that in the end, this person became the one who hurt her the most.
On July 24, 2012, Quan Li's husband, Stuhl, suddenly announced that quan Li was dismissed from the foundation, which meant kicking her out of the project.
At this time, Quan Li had no time to be sad, and quickly filed a divorce lawsuit with the court, and proposed in court: the foundation should be treated as their common marital property, and the relevant funds should be distributed equally. As a result, this request was rejected on the spot by the court.
Not satisfied, Jelly continued to appeal, and she also borrowed money to hire a team of Elsa Wadag, a top lawyer in the UK known as the "Queen of Divorce".
Quan Li said: From the beginning, all people were used by Stuhl, especially the foundation, which turned out to be in the name of the charitable fund, but in fact it was to avoid taxes.
According to British media, Quan Li once revealed in court that some of the money from the Save China Tiger International Foundation was embezzled by her husband to maintain the luxurious life of the two of them: "We use this money for private use." We went to eat lavish meals and drink expensive wine. ”
In this regard, Quan Li explained that the media took it out of context.
Stewart was adamant, saying that Quanli's allegations were completely false and that they were trying to win property in the divorce, and regretted that the foundation had been dragged into divorce proceedings.
During the trial, Stewart said he had invested $25 million in wood and solar energy to promote the wilding of the South China tiger.
This statement also raised questions from the judge:
Investment has nothing to do with the South China Tiger, but in the name of the South China Tiger, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
The couple argued endlessly, but they never made public the flow of funds from the foundation, and there was no way to verify whether the two had embezzled the foundation's money.
As for which is right and wrong, only the two of them know.
Fortunately, the foundation has not been affected, and the plan to cultivate The South China Tiger is still continuing, and the South China Tiger is very good in South Africa.
Because of the farce of divorce, Quan Li also withdrew from the Project of the South China Tiger.
In 2016, there were already 20 South China tigers in Tiger Valley, and in this year alone, Tiger Valley gave birth to 6 tiger cubs.
Under the guidance of "mother", these little tigers quickly learned the skills of survival in the wild and could hunt alone to fill their stomachs.
By 2020, tigers in Tiger Valley have reached 30.
But the tigers have never been sent back to China, mainly because they do not know how to place them, and the wild South China tigers are extremely aggressive and need large areas for their survival.
The road to protecting the South China tigers is a long way to go, but we believe that one day, these South China tigers will return home. At the same time, I also hope that public welfare is because of pure love, not mixed with selfish interests. Text/Little Happiness