See also: Tiger tales triple bill

Chinese news sources are reporting that the highly endangered South China Tiger has been seen in the wild for the first time in years (Xinhua, Huash). Nearly all the remaining tigers of this species are in captive breeding facilities and experts put the number of wild individuals at around 25 at most (BBC). Now photographs taken by a farmer appear to catch one of these on film, the first confirmed sighting in 30 years.

The Chinese news channels have a pretty impressive picture of the animal in question. Although there don’t appear to be official English versions of these stories there is a translation available. This says the tiger was snapped by Zhenglong Zhou, a villager from Zhenping County in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province.

This sighting is much more convincing than a photo of the Yangtze dolphin that was wheeled out after reports of that creature’s demise. Still, it is going to take more than this to convince that the tiger is out of the woods. On its own, one tiger is not very much use.

Image: USFWS