I went on a fact-finding mission to record these actions and here is a brief photo record.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Rhinos in Rehabilitation Center and Game Farms
The poaching of white rhinos in South Africa increased drastically in South Africa since the South African government implemented a restriction on the number of white rhinos that can be legally hunted per permit (in order to counter the increased number of Vietnamese hunting rhinos in South Africa and subsequently exporting the horns), therefore limiting the number of horns taken out of the country legally. Over 300 rhinos were poached last year, often in a very cruel manner, where the horns were cut off after drugs were darted from helicopters. The rhinos died a painful death. It is of course up to debate that the rhino horns, made of substance similar to that of hair that grows back when cut, have many medicinal value such as curing cancer or reducing fever. But actions have been taken in South Africa which has over 75% of the world's white rhino population, to find solutions to counter this problem. This includes short-term ones such as dehorning the rhinos or poisoning the horns, and long-term solutions such as asking CITIES for permission to lift the bans on rhino horn trading.
I went on a fact-finding mission to record these actions and here is a brief photo record.
Mark @ Careforwild & volunteers
Li with Mark @ Careforwild & volunteers
QL & Banded Mongoose
Petronel & Husband in front of their Fortress home
Founder Petronel @ Careforwild
Baby Rhino Bobby being handreared
Hume's game farm_world's largest private rhino owner
Hume's game farm
Supplementary feeding for rhinos & buffaloes
Some of Humes 400 rhinos
Dehorned rhino mom & baby
I went on a fact-finding mission to record these actions and here is a brief photo record.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Naming the little South China tiger Cub
(Beijing, April 2nd 2011) Save China’s Tigers and China’s internet service provider Sina.com is holding a joint naming event for the new born female South China tiger cub, so as the raise awareness for South China Tiger and Wildlife. Chinese Netizens will be able to submit their suggested names or vote for any suggestions online.
This little cub was born at our rewilding facilities at Laohu Valley Reserve in SA on Jan 31 2010, two days before the Chinese Year of the Tigers ended. We have temporarily named the new born by father 327 and mother Cathay - "Miss X".
The birth of Miss X yet once more defied predictions that 327 was incapable of siring offspring. His first baby born in natural environment by his consort Cathay was unfortunately taken away by a bird of prey on its 7th day in Dec 2009. To avoid similar hazard happening again, this precious little South China Tiger was retrieved for hand-rearing in indoor environment in her 3rd day after she had received plenty of Colostrums from her mother.
Miss X is a strong cub and has amazing ability to crawl about. This also accounted for her crawling through the chicken wires of the fence at Laohu Valley Reserve, giving our staff a huge scare! Although her immune system is a bit weak, but she is healthy now with both eyes wide open. She weighs over 5 KG now, her milk teeth are mostly grown, and she has recently started to eat game meat.
Plan is being made to take Miss X back to Laohu Valley in a couple of months and attempt to reunite her with her birth mother, so she can learn to behave and hunt like a tiger. However, given that she is being hand-reared and has complete trust of humans, she can not be reintroduced into the wild as it would pose danger to her life (same is true for Hulooo). She will however contribute valuable genetic materials to her offspring and teach her children hunting skills.
From 21st March, Sina.com will begin to collect names online for a month from all over China. The names will also be voted and final selection will be decided by Save China’s Tigers. The chosen name will be publicized in May, and awards will be given out to winners. The criteria are:
1． Avoiding using repeated character names, such as BeiBei, Lili etc.
2． The name should reflect the cultural and historical position of South China Tiger.
3. The name should not exceed 3 Chinese characters.
4． The English translation should have similar meaning to the Chinese name.
2． The name should reflect the cultural and historical position of South China Tiger.
3. The name should not exceed 3 Chinese characters.
4． The English translation should have similar meaning to the Chinese name.
Website for Naming and Voting:
http://news.sina.com.cn/z/tigername2011/index.shtml
http://news.sina.com.cn/z/tigername2011/index.shtml
This is the second naming event of Save China Tigers since the successful naming event in 2008 for the first born tiger cub ( Hulooo). Huooo is now three and half, ready for breeding.
We encourage all friends of SCT to participate in this event.
For more information about the project or daily progress of the new born cub, please visit our website:www.savechinasitgers.org and SCT twitter @SaveChinaTiger for photos and updates.
You can also participate by filling the form on our English website. http://english.savechinastigers.org/node/612
Monday, 21 March 2011
Madonna Dates Hulooo & Brothers
Hulooo's dad TigerWoods mated for the first time when he was 3 years and 5 months of age. Hulooo has been showing signs of sexual maturity for about a year, spraying bushes and trees, even riding his younger brothers much to their annoyance. Now Hulooo is also approaching 3 years and 5 months of age so I decided to let him and Madonna meet and develop their relationship with a view of getting some love fruit from them.
After a thunderstorm and light rain overnight, the air was fresh and cool in the morning of March 11, 2011. Hulooo brothers congregated next to the gates. We separated Hulooo and let him into the passage leading to the tree camp and opened the gates between him and Madonna. Hulooo took a step into the Tree Camp where Madonna had been guarding her gate and was met by a half hearted roar, after which Hulooo went to quench his thirst as if hiding his embarrassment. Then they behaved as if nothing unusual had happened.
After a bit of milling around, Hulooo went to the big tree after which this camp is named and started sniffing all that interesting scents the tree has collected from Madonna. He hugged it and rubbed his face against it with such indulgence and dedication, following up by an abundant spray at it. After he left the tree Madonna soon followed and hugged it and rubbed her face against the tree with even more enthusiasm, before spraying it with equal care. Things are looking good between the two of them, sexually!
Initially Madonna was charming, stretching herself out belly-up in a seductive manner. Hulooo wandered around absent-minded. But just when I thought he was less interested in Madonna, thundering roars interrupted the morning tranquility when Madonna and Hulooo engaged in a show of force, standing up. But both suddenly flopped to the ground, growling. The cause of this? Apparently while no one was paying attention, Hulooo went up to Madonna and bit her butt! What an impolite act! So in his superficial absent-mindedness, Hulooo had been scheming.
Hulooo decided to keep a safe distance from Madonna while she continued grumbling for the next 15 minutes. After a while Hulooo approached her but was quickly deterred by her continued display of unhappiness and he went about sniffing the ground.
For next few days, Hulooo was let out in the evening and let in with Madonna again in the morning. Madonna, as if not forgetting Hulooo's nip on her butt, continued to growl at Hulooo, blocking his entry either into her camp or access to the water tank. However, while growling, she also displayed inviting and submissive behaviour to Hulooo, such as lying on the ground. At no time did she display aggressive fighting posture such as crouching on all fours. And after couple of days, when Madonna had seen that Hulooo was due to be let out of the Tree Camp in the evening, she decided to block his way out by stretching out before the gate as well. It became a struggle for Hulooo to get around her and get out.
By the fourth morning, Madonna decided to go a step further by entering into the passage way and guarding from outside her gate, making it even harder for an Eager Hulooo to get into her camp and checking out her scents.
Hulooo was however terrified of Madonna's grumbles and occasional roars, avoiding at all costs, crossing her path. Madonna would not leave him alone, following him wherever he went. It looked as if on the one hand she is snubbing him but on the other she was interested in him. Sound like a cat?
Both were treading on thin ice though, and all grass turned into enemies. Each of them had on occasion scared themselves with their own shadows.
By fifth day there was less tension. Madonna left enough space for Hulooo to come into her camp. The scent must have now become familiar so Hulooo also spent less time sniffing and hugging that big tree. The two spent time apart during day with just a couple of close encounters. But before the sun set, Madonna promptly stationed herself next to the gate again to block Hulooo's exit!
Throughout all this testing time for Hulooo, Madonna has been showering friendly chuffs towards Hulooo's younger brother Coco through the fence. I decided to put Coco in with Madonna to see the difference of her reactions. Indeed, Coco was met with friendly chuffs when he was let in Madonna's camp in the morning of March 16, but he headed straight to the leftover bones. Afterwards he jumped on top of the shelter and started tearing at the log, managing to get a piece of the leftover PVC cover off. He then jumped into the big tree, sniffing but not rubbing his cheek against nor hugging nor spraying at it. He is not yet sexually mature.
When Coco finally came over to say hi to Madonna, he was met with a roar, but she never growled at Coco as she did at Hulooo. Coco responded with more chuffs instead, catching Madonna off guard. Embarrassed he went off exploring the shelter again and Madonna followed his footsteps, chewing on the shelter’s log and then followed him into the tree. Before we knew it, the two started sniffing and chuffing at each other in very close range, with half-hearted head rubs. But enough came very soon as Madonna absented herself quickly while Coco picked up another bone to chew on.
Just when we thought they would be now taking their positions to sleep through the day, Madonna came STRAIGHT to Coco chuffing all the way until the two touched nose! But when Coco came to chuff at her later, he was met with snarl and growl. It seems that she only allows herself to chase a male but not the other way round. When Coco sheepishly left, Madonna got up and went in search of him again! Such is the whimsical nature of a modern woman - she has to call the shot!
This kind of exchanges occurred several times during the morning observation and the day ended on an amicable note, with Coco eager to get back to his waiting brothers. Maybe Coco will mature faster now that he has experienced Madonna's charming female scent?
It was JenB's turn on March 18th. The two met with friendly chuffs but Madonna became grumpy when JenB tried to play with her repeatedly. However JenB wouldn't give up. Only after a few rounds of unsuccessfully initiating play with Madonna he decided go and investigate the big tree. Initially, like Coco he showed interests in the scents on the tree but not crazy about it. But after a while, he started seriously sniffing the scents on the tree and rubbing his cheek against it, and made a position to almost spray. Maybe he is more mature than Coco who displayed no keen interests in the scents?
The different reactions towards Madonna by the three brothers seem to highlight that Hulooo, being hand-reared by humans and not a having a mother to interact and discipline him the way tiger mothers do, is unable to properly interpret the signals from other tigers, particularly from females. While JenB and Coco do know how to react to a tigress' whimsicalness, Hulooo got scared from Madonna's grumbles and snarls while JenB and Coco continued their friendly chuffing at her. .
Throughout the encounter between JenB and Madonna, Hulooo lay on the other side of the fence watching. Maybe he will learn something?? We need him to act soon.
After a thunderstorm and light rain overnight, the air was fresh and cool in the morning of March 11, 2011. Hulooo brothers congregated next to the gates. We separated Hulooo and let him into the passage leading to the tree camp and opened the gates between him and Madonna. Hulooo took a step into the Tree Camp where Madonna had been guarding her gate and was met by a half hearted roar, after which Hulooo went to quench his thirst as if hiding his embarrassment. Then they behaved as if nothing unusual had happened.
After a bit of milling around, Hulooo went to the big tree after which this camp is named and started sniffing all that interesting scents the tree has collected from Madonna. He hugged it and rubbed his face against it with such indulgence and dedication, following up by an abundant spray at it. After he left the tree Madonna soon followed and hugged it and rubbed her face against the tree with even more enthusiasm, before spraying it with equal care. Things are looking good between the two of them, sexually!
Initially Madonna was charming, stretching herself out belly-up in a seductive manner. Hulooo wandered around absent-minded. But just when I thought he was less interested in Madonna, thundering roars interrupted the morning tranquility when Madonna and Hulooo engaged in a show of force, standing up. But both suddenly flopped to the ground, growling. The cause of this? Apparently while no one was paying attention, Hulooo went up to Madonna and bit her butt! What an impolite act! So in his superficial absent-mindedness, Hulooo had been scheming.
Hulooo decided to keep a safe distance from Madonna while she continued grumbling for the next 15 minutes. After a while Hulooo approached her but was quickly deterred by her continued display of unhappiness and he went about sniffing the ground.
For next few days, Hulooo was let out in the evening and let in with Madonna again in the morning. Madonna, as if not forgetting Hulooo's nip on her butt, continued to growl at Hulooo, blocking his entry either into her camp or access to the water tank. However, while growling, she also displayed inviting and submissive behaviour to Hulooo, such as lying on the ground. At no time did she display aggressive fighting posture such as crouching on all fours. And after couple of days, when Madonna had seen that Hulooo was due to be let out of the Tree Camp in the evening, she decided to block his way out by stretching out before the gate as well. It became a struggle for Hulooo to get around her and get out.
By the fourth morning, Madonna decided to go a step further by entering into the passage way and guarding from outside her gate, making it even harder for an Eager Hulooo to get into her camp and checking out her scents.
Hulooo was however terrified of Madonna's grumbles and occasional roars, avoiding at all costs, crossing her path. Madonna would not leave him alone, following him wherever he went. It looked as if on the one hand she is snubbing him but on the other she was interested in him. Sound like a cat?
Both were treading on thin ice though, and all grass turned into enemies. Each of them had on occasion scared themselves with their own shadows.
By fifth day there was less tension. Madonna left enough space for Hulooo to come into her camp. The scent must have now become familiar so Hulooo also spent less time sniffing and hugging that big tree. The two spent time apart during day with just a couple of close encounters. But before the sun set, Madonna promptly stationed herself next to the gate again to block Hulooo's exit!
Throughout all this testing time for Hulooo, Madonna has been showering friendly chuffs towards Hulooo's younger brother Coco through the fence. I decided to put Coco in with Madonna to see the difference of her reactions. Indeed, Coco was met with friendly chuffs when he was let in Madonna's camp in the morning of March 16, but he headed straight to the leftover bones. Afterwards he jumped on top of the shelter and started tearing at the log, managing to get a piece of the leftover PVC cover off. He then jumped into the big tree, sniffing but not rubbing his cheek against nor hugging nor spraying at it. He is not yet sexually mature.
When Coco finally came over to say hi to Madonna, he was met with a roar, but she never growled at Coco as she did at Hulooo. Coco responded with more chuffs instead, catching Madonna off guard. Embarrassed he went off exploring the shelter again and Madonna followed his footsteps, chewing on the shelter’s log and then followed him into the tree. Before we knew it, the two started sniffing and chuffing at each other in very close range, with half-hearted head rubs. But enough came very soon as Madonna absented herself quickly while Coco picked up another bone to chew on.
Just when we thought they would be now taking their positions to sleep through the day, Madonna came STRAIGHT to Coco chuffing all the way until the two touched nose! But when Coco came to chuff at her later, he was met with snarl and growl. It seems that she only allows herself to chase a male but not the other way round. When Coco sheepishly left, Madonna got up and went in search of him again! Such is the whimsical nature of a modern woman - she has to call the shot!
This kind of exchanges occurred several times during the morning observation and the day ended on an amicable note, with Coco eager to get back to his waiting brothers. Maybe Coco will mature faster now that he has experienced Madonna's charming female scent?
It was JenB's turn on March 18th. The two met with friendly chuffs but Madonna became grumpy when JenB tried to play with her repeatedly. However JenB wouldn't give up. Only after a few rounds of unsuccessfully initiating play with Madonna he decided go and investigate the big tree. Initially, like Coco he showed interests in the scents on the tree but not crazy about it. But after a while, he started seriously sniffing the scents on the tree and rubbing his cheek against it, and made a position to almost spray. Maybe he is more mature than Coco who displayed no keen interests in the scents?
The different reactions towards Madonna by the three brothers seem to highlight that Hulooo, being hand-reared by humans and not a having a mother to interact and discipline him the way tiger mothers do, is unable to properly interpret the signals from other tigers, particularly from females. While JenB and Coco do know how to react to a tigress' whimsicalness, Hulooo got scared from Madonna's grumbles and snarls while JenB and Coco continued their friendly chuffing at her. .
Throughout the encounter between JenB and Madonna, Hulooo lay on the other side of the fence watching. Maybe he will learn something?? We need him to act soon.
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