The first Siberian tiger cub to be found in the wild in China in at least 20 years has died less than two days after being discovered.
Censors have covered up the death, which casts a shadow over what is potentially the best conservation news the country has had for decades.
It also raises questions about the handling and timing of the discovery, which comes as China celebrates the start of the lunar year of the Tiger and a major financial push to save the biggest cat on the planet.
Early on the morning of Feb. 25, Han Deyou, a forester in the Wanda mountains in the Heilongjiang Province, claimed to have discovered a wild tiger cub trapped in a pile of firewood in his yard.
Afraid of its roars and aggression, he called local police and forestry officials, who fed the captive animal beef and chicken as they waited for wildlife experts from a tiger breeding center to arrive in the remote area the following morning.
The tiger was anesthetized with a dart, taken away and detained in the jail of the local public security bureau.
Experts confirmed it was a Siberian tiger, weighing 28.5kg and thought to be about around nine months old.
Regional media said the cub had probably sought shelter after being separated from its mother in the unusually deep winter snows.
‘EXPLOSIVE FIND’
Local authorities hailed the discovery as an “explosively” important development, the Northeast China Net Web site said.
There are only about 20 tigers left in the wild.
Regional media said no cubs have been found since the founding of the People’s Republic of China more than 60 years ago, though conservationists say records are unreliable before the 1990s.
Although China’s wild tiger population is tiny, thousands of the animals are bred in captivity each year. Forestry bureaus are responsible for conservation and receive the bulk of funds related to this end.
The discovery of the young tiger appeared to show that the animals were still breeding in the wild, the best possible news at the start of a year in which the government, World Bank and conservation groups plan to invest heavily in a new program to save the biggest cat on the planet.
But the case has been quickly shrouded in mystery, tragedy and secrecy.
NEWS BLACKOUT
Ma Hongliang, the propaganda chief of The East Is Red Forest Bureau, said the cub was dead, but the news has been withheld.
He has advised CCTV and other domestic journalists not to report the death because of possible negative publicity. He also declined to answer questions about the time and cause of death.
“Experts tried their best to save the cub,” he said. “It was too weak to survive.”
The full details of the case have yet to emerge. It could yet prove a sad, but essentially positive indication of the potential for the remaining wild tiger population to breed.
Alternatively, it may raise fresh doubts about eco-fraud among a public that has become cynical about conservation claims.
In 2008, forestry officials in Shaanxi Province endorsed a photograph of a South China tiger, which suggested the animal — until then assumed extinct — was still alive. It was quickly proved a fake.
The financial incentives for such duplicity are substantial because the existence of wild tigers improves the prospects for tourism and the possibility of conservation funds.
Conservation groups, however, said there was reason to believe the latest case may be genuine.
“From the information we have, I think it might be real,” said a conservationist, who declined to be named.
“This area has been monitored for a long time. Locals have previously reported seeing a tiger and a pup,” the conservationist said.
Last year, a dead female tiger was found trapped in a snare. The trapper — a frog farmer — was caught. However, it was not likely to be the mother of the dead cub because tigers are dependant on their mothers for two years.
STILL HOPE
Conservationists, however, were upbeat about the prospects for more cubs next year if the mother can avoid snares.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
RSS