Tiger Rewilding
Save China's Tigers has embarked on an unprecedented scientific journey to rewild zoo-born South China Tigers so they can regain their abiltiies to survive in the wild. If we can succeed in rewilding and reintroduce them back to its former habitat, it will have profound implications and set scientific precedences for many other zoo animals in the future.
How to Rewild Tigers So They Can Live in the Wild Again?
We can only return captive tigers to the wild from second generation onwards. So it will take at least five to six years before Chinese Tigers can be returned home to the wild.
According to Swiss scientists Urs and Christine Breitenmoser who have worked many years with Eurasian Lynx, a cat’s behaviour depends on three factors: genetic embedding, individual learning, and tradition. For example, a cat is born to hunt. But if it lost its mother before it learns to hunt from her, it would not know how to hunt effectively and will perish in the wild without its mother as a coach. Some cats learn to hunt better than others, depending on their learning abilities.
Tigers must start their rewilding training when they are young. This is the stage where they are young enough to learn new things. In the wild, tigers learn everything, particularly how to hunt, from their mothers. But we do not have that luxury when we take them out of zoos. Therefore, we would have to design different ways of letting them regain their hunting abilities.
Like a domestic cat that dashes after any moving object, a tiger would do the same instinctively. However, simply chasing after anything moving in the wild without ensuring a good chance of success will wear the tiger out, and futile attempts like this can eventually lead to his death from starvation. That is where humans come in. The humans can use different methods to coach the tigers to learn that the toy they have played or killed is actually their food. The tigers must also learn to hunt appropriate prey animals. Errors of judgment, such as hunting something too large while the tiger is too small or unskilled, can result in serious injuries and lead to death from an inability to hunt and feed in the wild.
Tigers will also learn to associate hunting with food during Rewilding training. Otherwise, they would be just like my cat Wawa who caught a mouse but only played with it till the mouse escaped. Tigers that live in the wild can not afford to make such mistakes.
Some people say that cats are inherent hunters and do not need to be taught. Of course, some cats are naturally able hunters. From his experience with orphaned pumas, Dr. Koehler said that out of the three orphaned pumas he released into the wild one survived while the other two died. That is, 33% of the cats that have not learned to hunt from their mothers or from rehabilitation project can survive according to this statistic. The others, unfortunately, do not possess the skills to hunt and starve to death.
If we had enough zoo-born Chinese tiger cubs to take this risk, we could skip the rewilding work and just put them into a wild environment, hoping one fourth or one third of them would survive, but we do not have that luxury. There are less than sixty of them left. We can not take any chances. We must make sure that every single Chinese Tiger survives.
When Can a Tiger Be Reintroduced into the Wild?
As we have described, to rewild a tiger, there may be some human intervention in some methods. Therefore, the tiger may regard the human as his friend and would not consider them a threat. As in cases I have experienced, he would be friendly to humans. In fact, in the desert of Namibia, I once encountered another big cat - a cheetah, who was abandoned by his masters, as I found out later. When the cheetah saw our jeep, the only one in view in the desert, he walked a distance of half a kilometre to approach us, hoping we were his masters and could feed him. If you encounter such a cat in the wild, what would you think? Most likely you could not imagine that the cat wants to be friendly with you! You will probably end up either hurting the cat, or running for your life, which would trigger the hunting instinct, to who you are no match - unless you are Wu Song!
It is clear to you now that in order to protect both tiger and human you may not be able to return a first generation zoo-born tiger to the wild, even if it has gained an ability to hunt and live in the wild. Only tigers who have learned skills from their mothers or who have an inherent fear of humans can be returned to the wild.
Where are Chinese Tigers being Rewilded?
In order to increase the chance of success, Save China’s Tigers proposed to the SFA to begin rewilding training for the Chinese Tiger in South Africa. Why on earth South Africa? Africa does not even have tigers. There are several reasons that I suggested South Africa. First, as we discussed earlier, for tigers to live naturally, they need at least 15 square kilometres of land. It is very hard to get 15 square meters of land for ONE tiger in China immediately, not to mention a population of several tigers. However in Africa, we have been able to purchase over 300 square kilometres of bankrupt farm land at a relatively low price compared to China.
Also, we can use wild prey animals in Africa for training because wild animals don't lose their instinct, so they run very fast. Take antelope in Africa as an example, that runs so fast that many big cats just can't catch up with them using speed alone. They have to catch the antelope using their brain. Only tigers trained this way will ensure a level of fitness suitable for a successful return to the wild.
Secondly, because of the small space in zoos in general, a change of environment would improve the tiger's health. An outdoor athletic tiger will be healthier and more productive than one kept in a cage.
Thirdly, in South Africa, they have worked with wildlife for many years and are experienced in reintroducing big cats. They have completed successful trials with the wild training of tigers in the past few years and their skills can be applied to Chinese Tigers.
Fourthly, while the Chinese tigers are being wild trained, we will use South African experts to train conservation officers from Chinese Nature Reserves and to instruct Chinese managers in eco-tourism management. This will help us improve the quality of reserve management, and prepare us for high quality wildlife eco-tourism in China.
Last but not least, Save China’s Tigers is endeavouring to help China set up a Pilot Reserve, based on the successful principles of African wildlife reserves. This will be the New Home for the Chinese Tigers, after they are wild trained and have gained ability to survive in wild conditions. All the knowledge and skills acquired by our officers and managers can now be used in this Chinese Tiger Pilot Reserve.
Would Chinese Tigers Adapt to the Environment in South Africa? Would They Re-Adapt to China’s Environment?
The tigers are among the most adaptable animals on the planet. They can tolerate temperatures from -35°C to
48°C . The live in a range of habitats from very dry to tropical forests. As long as they have water to drink, food to eat, and cover to hunt by, they will survive. We also know that there are a lot of tigers living at people's ranches in Texas, USA and in zoos all around the world. Some tigers endure extremely miserable conditions in captivity as in some circuses and some zoos. What I am saying is, the tiger is extremely adaptable to different environment that we do not have to worry about them going either to South Africa, or returning back home to China. Further, it is the hunting skills we want them to hone. Once they have the hunting skills, they will be able to apply to different preys in different environment.