It’s a good day for tiger news, less good for the tigers themselves. Here’s the run down…

China

Authorities in China have set up check points around the area where a rare South China Tiger was reportedly photographed recently. A team of State Forestry Administration experts is to be sent in to conduct a special investigation, state news agency Xinhua reports. The Times dredges up questions over the authenticity of the original photograph, citing a blog by a botanist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences which voices doubts about size of vegetation shown in the photo. Xinhua also covered doubts on this a while ago.

Indonesia

Tigers – along with elephants, sun bears, tapirs, golden cats and clouded leopards – have been detected in forests allocated for the chop in Indonesia. Scientists from the Zoological Society of London detected at least five different tigers on camera traps placed in 2000sq km of forest already partially logged and recently earmarked for clearance. Sarah Christie, ZSL carnivore programme manager, said, “This work shows that the criteria for developing land in Sumatra need to be urgently reassessed. Just because forests have been logged does not mean they have lost their value for biodiversity” (press release, coverage in Telegraph, Guardian).

However Xinhua was told by Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban “Should the animals found in the non-forestry areas that will be used for palm oil plantation, the animals must be relocated.” Good luck with that minister…

India

England’s slightly tardy paper the Independent has noticed that there are only 1,300 tigers left in India (the story is splashed across its front page today). Similar figures have also surfaced recently in:

Reuters ‘India’s tigers need miracle to survive’ 1 October

Washington Post ‘Poaching and Population Threaten India’s Tigers’ 16 October

The Hindu ‘There is hope for the tiger yet’ 14 October

Image: US Fish and Wildlife Service