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Patsy Moy

Hong Kong star becomes patron of scheme intended to save the big cats

Hong Kong-based actress Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng has joined a campaign to help save the rare tigers of southern China.

She has agreed to become a patron of Save China's Tigers - a British and US-based conservation foundation - and will promote the programme at a regional and international level. There are now fewer than 100 of the big cats left and they could be wiped out in less than a decade unless action is taken now, according to the foundation.

The warning came from the group's founder, Li Quan, who has just arranged for two South China tiger cubs to be sent from Shanghai Zoo to South Africa as part of a retraining and breeding programme.

The cubs, Cathy and Hope, will stop at Chek Lap Kok airport for 10 hours on September 1 before moving on to South Africa, a noted leader in tiger conservation efforts.

Ms Li said Cathy and Hope would be the first two South China tigers to leave China.

Under the programme, three to seven more members from their family will join them  over  the next five years. It is hoped they can be taught how to survive in the wild.

Cathy and Hope, together with any offspring they may have, will return to China   once construction of a pilot natural reserve is completed in 2008.

The conservation effort  is being developed under an agreement with the Wildlife Research Centre of the State Forestry Administration of China and the Chinese Tigers  Trust of South Africa, with assistance from the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa.

Ms Li has appealed for funding for the project, which is expected to last a minimum of 15 to 20 years. It is hoped the population can grow from less than 100 to at least 500 within 50 years.

The project is estimated to cost between US$300,000 and US$500,000 a year, including the lease of land in South Africa, facilities, equipment and personnel.

The South China tiger is one of several animals being considered as the mascot of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

The South China tiger, or Panthera Tigris Amoyensis, is one of the oldest tiger species and is believed to have existed for two million years.  It is thought to be the origin of all the tiger subspecies. Three subspecies - the Bali tiger, the Javan tiger and the Caspian tiger - died out in the last century due to a loss of habitat.

Of the five remaining, the South China tiger is the most endangered. In the early 1950s, there were 4,000 South China tigers in China. There are an now estimated 60 in zoos across China and just 30 remaining in the wild.

According to Ms Li, it is critical that captive tigers be taught how to survive in the wild in order to return their numbers to sustainable levels.

'It would be nice if the South China tiger could be selected as the mascot of the Beijing Olympics, but what about beyond that?' she asked. 'What if a couple of years later, the tiger is extinct?'



Rare Chinese tigers packed off to Africa for a wild time