China has launched a 146 million yuan (US$1.8 million) ambitious project to protect the South China tiger, one the world's most endangered animals, from becoming extinct.

Qiu Yunxing, director of the Meihuashan Nature Reserve Administration, said a 460 hectare park in east China's Fujian Province will completed by 2005 for the rare animal to get used to life in the wild.

With virgin forests, man-made lakes containing spring water, meadows and other vegetation, the park borders the 20,000 hectare subtropical Meihuashan Nature Reserve in Longyan City of Fujian.

The reserve is considered as the best natural habitat for South China tigers because of its favorable climate and sufficient rainfalls and high-quality grassland and wildlife.

By June, 2000, there were only 62 South China tigers living in captivity in China, and very few in the wild, far fewer than the giant panda, whose population stands at 1,000.

Experts at home and abroad said the South China tiger may become extinct in China after 2010 due to low fertility and inbreeding.

The director said a breading research center has been set up on a farm near Gutian township in Longyan with six South China tigers introduced from other parts the country.

Out of the six tigers, two male and one female came two years ago from Suzhou Zoo in east China's Jiangsu Province to the center for artificial breeding research.

At present, the three tigers weigh about 300 kg each, gaining 150 kg in weight during the past two years, and have been trained to hunt such animals as goats.

Last year, one male and two female tigers were brought to the center from Guilin Zoo in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region. Huang Zhaofeng, director of the South China Tiger Breeding and Acclimating Institute, said the tigers from Suzhou were so tame that they feared angry goats when they first came to the center.

After a period of acclimating, the tigers is beginning to gain their wild nature as king of all beasts, and know how to chase or hunt animals like goats and rabbits, said Huang.

"But we can't set them free to nature as it is impossible for them to get as wild as wild tigers."

"But their offspring could be acclimated to life in the wild, so these cats have an important job to multiply their population," he said.

The South China tiger, also named Chinese tiger or Xiamen tiger, remains on the top of the list of 10 most endangered species in the world.

The population of wild South China tigers totaled about 4,000 in China half a century ago, but it dwindled to 200 to 250 in the early 1980s.

In a national program on wildlife protection issued last year, the State Forestry Administration encourages provincial authorities in southern China, including Fujian, Guangxi and Jiangxi, to try to increase the South China tiger population in the wild and in captivity.

The China Association for Saving the South China Tiger has been set up in Longyan of Fujian to collect funds for the project.

(Eastday.com.cn 07/22/2001)