Chinese and foreign experts on Wednesday completed a three-day survey in Liuyang City, central China's Hunan Province, to find a suitable habitat for endangered Chinese tigers to live in the wild.

The experts from the State Forestry Administration and an international fund called "Save China's Tigers" examined a place around a reservoir in Liuyang from Monday. Before that, they had studied an area called Zixi, in east China's Jiangxi Province.

This was an important project by the administration and overseas experts to save the endangered species, said one of the experts, Lu Jun, a researcher with the administration.

The project had two phases. In the first phase, tiger cubs would receive training for the wild, and the administration would find a habitat for them by 2008. The second phase involved openingthe habitats to the public so as to fund other rescue projects, said Lu.

Two cubs from Shanghai were sent to South Africa in September last year for training. Experts have studied areas in the provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian and Hunan and in Chongqing Municipality and narrowed the options down to Zixi and Liuyang, which are both in the drainage area of China's longest river, the Yangtze.

The destruction of habitat was the major cause of the sharp decline of Chinese tigers, and strict conditions were required in choosing a site, said experts. The habitats must cover an area of more than 180 square kilometers, have 50 percent forest coverage, have plains, wetlands and few people. Liuyang and Zixi used to be the core habitats of Chinese tigers. The final decision would be made after a comprehensive evaluation, they said.

The Chinese tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis), from which other sub-species such as the Siberian Tiger evolved, is a critically endangered tiger sub-species native to south China. It is listed as one of the world's ten most endangered animals.

Today, fewer than 30 Chinese tigers remain in the wild while about 60 survive in Chinese zoos. Some experts from other countries have predicted that they would disappear by 2010 if theyare not well protected.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2004)