It is a quite well known fact that China has an active program for protecting the Giant Pandas. But pandas are only one of many animals on China’s first-level list of animals to protect (国家一级保护动物). The South China Tiger (华南虎) is another one.

Tigers used to be pretty common in China. In ancient times, there were plenty of them in mountain forests and they represented a danger for people living around. Confronting a wild tiger was considered an act of bravery as exemplified in the famous story of Wu Song (武松).

Today tigers do not represent any danger for humans anymore; they are the ones endangered. Like for the pandas, the future of the South China Tiger is now in the hands of scientists who do their best to better understand them and help them reproduce. Unlike pandas, there is few evidence that there still are wild South China Tigers at the moment.

The South China Tiger breeding station located in the city of Suzhou (苏州) is celebrating the Year of the Tiger a little bit in advance (Chinese New Year is on February 14). For the first time in four years, the centre saw a newborn tiger survive. The cub is now more than a month old and just came out of the incubator. It weighs a little more than 2.7 kilograms.

Besides of the South China Tiger, there are other types of tigers on China’s list of protected species. Recently a poacher got convicted for killing what was believed to be the last wild Indochinese Tiger in China.

Chinese source: 苏州华南虎幼崽新年露脸