Martin Williams reply to Vanvouver Sun Article

From Martin Williams

Hi Michiele:

Li Quan has sent me a copy of your email re the Vancouver Sun report on S China tiger extinction claims. (I'm writing an article on S China tiger; also I'm a birder based in Hong Kong, with some experience of S China reserves.)

Now, it may well be that the S C tiger is extinct in the wild. But some of Ron Tilson's claims are downright dodgy; I believe his claim is far from rock solid.

1. "There is no prey and there is no habitat. All of China's tiger conservation areas have been converted to spruce and fir forests. I did not even hear any birds."

This is nonsense for starters. (Might be based on Ron being in one especially bad reserve, and extrapolating wildly and grossly wrongly.) There are some good areas, including with broadleaf forest - not much primary forest, but there are areas of resurgent secondary. Might be that they're too small for tigers. An example: Chebaling, a tiger reserve in north Guangdong which Ron did not visit. It's a favourite site with HK birders; has good secondary broadleaf flanking lower areas of valley (as well as outside reserve), I've been told of primary/near primary in higher areas, away from (small) road thro reserve. Plenty of birds; you'd have to be deaf not to hear them - most special being White-eared Night Heron, which had been thought perhaps extinct until discovered at a handful of sites inc this. I visited last autumn; staff told me of tiger sightings (recent), also of plans to expand the reserve to include the resurgent forest just outside it. (Hills here not readily farmed; people evidently aiming to move to towns/cities, so seems pressure on the forest has greatly decreased.)Wrote to Ron about this visit; sent photos showing habitat - evidently making zero impression on him. I was at Meihuashan S China tiger breeding centre, in Fujien, last week. Guy behind this, Luo Mingxi, used to work in nearby Meihuashan reserve. Luo told me there is good forest in the reserve (ca 20,000 ha); told me Gary Koehler spent some days here, hiking much of the area, back in 1990, rated it perhaps the best place for S C tiger. Luo also told me that guy conducting the census w Ron's team (Jeff Muntifering) did not get into the reserve, spent only little time there. I didn't have time to get to the reserve, but managed an outing to a small reserve, mainly for a rare broadleaf tree species - here, saw specimens up to over 500 years old; told of one that's 960 yrs old. Jeff evidently also barely reached fringes of another important tiger place, where they reportedly survive - Hupingshan in Hunan. I hope to be there v soon, and get my own impressions.

2. "Our Chinese colleagues declined to have their names on either our final reports or manuscripts because they believed it would threaten their positions,"

I doubt that all Chinese colleagues declined for this reason - Luo, say, believes that tigers survive in Meihuashan; a field guy in Hupingshan would hardly say this, as he's seen tiger(s).

3. "After nearly eight months of field work, including walking 288 kilometers of trails"

Wow! - that's, err, a bit more than a kilometre a day. Are we supposed to be impressed? How does this compare with Gary Koehler? - at least at Meihuashan, seems he covered far more ground, getting into the best habitat (not reaching fringes, then dismissing the place). As I mentioned, the S China tiger might indeed be extinct in the wild, or down to such low levels that any recovery from the wild population is impossible (or virtually so). And yes, it would be good to have some solid evidence of wild tigers - not just stories and signs. But it's possible such evidence is lacking partly because almost no one is really looking for the tigers - at Meihuashan (from talking to Luo), seems there isn't anyone really searching for them. And before writing off China's current attempts to save the S China tiger - seems also worth mentioning how much money/effort being expended at Meihuashan, where the local (city) govt has spent several million US dollars, and the facility is breeding tigers, has managed some success in having two young tigers (born last summer) learn to kill animals, as well as become accustomed to being outdoors in natural enclosure - and aims to have tigers roaming in larger, "private" natural enclosures. Perhaps you'll have chance to visit sometime? Others, too - Li Quan among them - are devoted to saving the S China tiger. The South China tiger's in dire straits; but not all habitat is lost, the tiger does have friends (and conservation projects underway); and just maybe a few wild tigers stubbornly survive. (Will have to see what I reckon after visiting Hupingshan - if this seems pathetic, I might incline more towards thumbs-down!) I'm attaching three photos from Chebaling; one from Mang Shan (which Jeff did visit; as you can see here, there is broadleaf forest - though this was pretty young I thought; was told at neighbouring Ba Bao Shan reserve in Guangdong that S China tiger has perhaps died out here since Gary K found signs in 1990.) Hope you can view them ok.

Best regards,
Martin Williams