THANK YOU MR. SHI JUN, THANK YOU MR. GUANG BOYANG; AND THANK YOU ALL, MY SUPPORTERS!

I got a New Year surprise present. It came at the right time again. I say it is the right time because I have not been feeling very upbeat lately. With the holiday season coming, yet still so many worries looming over both the world at large and our own project, I got a flu which attacked my weak throat and bronchi, causing throat infection and severe cough again. So my ski holiday in Chamonix was spent buying medicines and seeing doctors. I did not have any rest due to the incessant bursts of coughs at night but still managed to do a few rounds of skiing so that my holiday was not entirely wasted, though I did not get my money’s worth.

It was just during this "down" time that I received a message, from non-other than the known Chinese Gongbi(工笔) tiger painter Mr. Shi Jun(史君). He has completed a painting for and dedicated to me named "Buddhisava Saving Tigers", with a prose by the Chinese Liao-Jin History (辽金史) Scholar Mr. Guan Boyang (关伯阳 ). Above all, I feel extremely flattered. But I definitely do not deserve to be likened to Boddhisattva.

According to Wikipedia: "In the Buddhist context, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva)" or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi)". Another translation is "Wisdom-Being". The various divisions of Buddhism understand the word bodhisattva in different ways, but especially in Mahayana Buddhism, it mainly refers to a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others.

As much as I feel embarrassed and even guilty that I am far from the image that this painting and prose portray of me, I am also extremely honored to know there are people of such high calibre who support me and my cause. I am extremely grateful that such support comes at a critical time, just when the world economy is spiraling down and financial market crashing that I start worrying if we might be able to feed our increasing number of tigers. It brings me great comfort to know there are people who care about the tigers, about the cultural symbol of China and Asia and about nature and environment - even during this time of uncertain futures.

I am a mere mortal, who admires the qualities of bodhisattva. Although I can not aspire to be one in this life, I am indebted to those who put their faith in me to save the Chinese Tiger and will therefore try my utmost to give them as bright a future as can be, which, fortunately, is limited only by what will-power we humans have to save them.

Happy New Year to You All!

Dec 31th 2008, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France

South China Tiger Cathay Giving Birth

I remember how angry she looked when she snarled at me when I first saw her in the zoo cage in China four years ago. I remember how grateful I felt when she gave me a first ever chuff after she was moved to our wildlife reserve in South Africa.
I remember how puzzled she looked when she caught her first live prey. I remember how proud she seemed when she made her first successful hunt.
I remember how determined she was in tackling a difficult enemy. I remember how lustful she appeared when she was pursuing a mate.
Now she is giving birth! The birth of first ever cub, the rebirth of our project. We have established a milestone. We can tell our critics: to stop talking and get into action!

She has not made it easy for us. Having been fully rewilded, she was so angry being caged and refused to be inside the proper quarters. I was torn between letting her having her way therefore giving birth wherever she chooses out in the open, and confining her to the breeding centre purposely built for the birthing. This is a choice between leaving these first ever born cubs to nature's will, and securing the cubs at all costs by human intervention.

But the goal is clear, we are trying to rescue the last of the South China Tigers from extinction and the birth of these cubs represents new hope. We have to help them, as we have done in the past years with our unconventional ways. We must be ready to try any untried methods in order to save this subspecies.

It was unseasonably cold in the night of Nov 23 and all our staff wore winter clothes. Cathay, after more than a day of pacing, finally gave birth to a male cub of 1.20 kilo-larger than usual-at 11.30 pm. seeing it motionless and soundless; I had thought it was dead, especially since the mortality rate of the South China Tigers is about 60 percent in Chinese zoos. Cathay, looking back behind her, saw this thing too. She started licking it. There seemed some life to the thing..."Licking it, please lick it", we prayed. But Cathay picked it up with her mouth, albeit gently, and started pacing. She was probably look for a dark place to hide it but there was no dark place except the indoor quarters that she had not learned to like. We had to intervene or the cub would be frozen to death. With a purposely made hooked-pole, we tried to swap the cub from under her. She lounged forward, trying to grab her baby. For a moment my heart froze-fearing she might have caught it, and caught it too hard which might have killed the cub. But luckily, our team got hold of the baby, and he was taken through emergency care measures. He let out a cry half an hour later, much to my relief. Fortunately Cathay had only one cub in this first litter of hers, so we would not have to worry about her reaction were we to take away her other cubs.

I am so grateful for the selfless support of many to make this successful. I am particularly thankful to Eddie Van Ecke of Lory Park Animal and Owl Sanctuary for helping us making this event go smoothly..

We have also learned some new lessons for our program. Our challenge is much bigger than simply undertaking a rewilding experiment which we have succeeded nicely. Our goal -which we can never loose sight of, is to save the South China Tiger from extinction.

History in the Making - Hulooo Meets His Mother

I had the chance to see Madonna's little cubs at close range a few days ago, when Reuters came to report on our project. What a privilege to see them again! Their eyes were now fully opened but still with a blue film. They were quiet and gave us an initial silent hiss, but calmed down even trying to sleep when they saw we were quiet too.
The following couple of days were cold cold - with temperature dropping to minus 5 and then a mighty wind blew day and night. I wonder if Madonna's pacing with her cub in her mouth was due to her showing off to 327, or to the cold, or to the wind? Or a combination of all? She did move the cubs yesterday in the cutting wind, so wind was certainly a factor.
Cathay still has not come into oestrus! So I decided to use this window of time to introduce her to Hulooo. Since she never suckled Hulooo, this meeting should not affect her natural oestrus cycle. This step was supposed to be a dangerous faux-pas again. Many people had warned me not to introduce Hulooo back to Cathay, warning me that she will kill Hulooo. Even Nick Marks believed so. However, this is a necessary risk to take, for Hulooo's benefit and for his future rewilding training. I was also confident that she would not harm Hulooo for a number of reasons. First, she did not harm TigerWoods and Madonna when they were introduced to her which was also unconventional and on the contrary took them under her wings. Secondly, I have been observing her similarly and found she would chuff at Hulooo whenever she saw him. There was never any maliciousness, as TigerWoods would display, for example towards 327.
Despite what I believe, I got our team well prepared so we would be in a position to pull Hulooo into another camp in the event of trouble. We shut JenB and Coco into quarantine camp and left Hulooo in the 9 hectare. Hulooo would of course be attracted by the food in the quarantine camp so would not wander too far away so he is always close to our gate which we can open up to let him in.
We were ready, and Cathay was let into 9 hectare camp from the half hectare at the other end. She certainly took her time, calling while moving at leisure through the 9 hectare camp in our direction of the quarantine camp, as if knowing what was coming. I had anticipated much tension and potential game of dominance and submission, as with Cathay and TigerWoods when they were put together, so I got all our camera gears ready to record this unprecedented event.
Cathay came closer and closer, still looking absent minded when she approached Hulooo. Hulooo did not seem to smell her or hear her, crouching over the small piece of bone that we gave him earlier. Cathay went close to Hulooo and I anticipated anxiously what was to come. Would she challenge Hulooo? Would she hit him? Would she roar at him? Would she attempt to harm or even kill him? She is after all a tigress who has quite a bit of temper and who is extremely protective of things that are hers. For example, she hit her own cub when he tried to chuff at Madonna and tried also to crush him under her body so he could not greet Madonna. Therefore, I had anticpated at least potentially a game of dominance with Hulooo as well.
Cathay was now towering over the crouched Hulooo. Just when she lowered her head, actually to chuff at him, Hulooo got startled. Jumping, he turned around emitting a little roar at his mother! Cathay looked a bit lost, looking at us blankly, pretending nothing happened. Then she walked to her favourite big tree about 20 meters away and started another of those love affairs with it, even meat could not entice her away.
Then, she wandered off, sniffing the grass as she went. Suddenly, as if making up her mind, she ran towards Hulooo in a jolly gait, chuffing at him. For a few moments, Hulooo sniffed Cathay and lightly pawed her. Then, as if remembering something, Hulooo suddenly hitted out at his mother. Strangely, or not, all Cathay did was to chuff at him . What followed next was most unthinkable and probably never observed! Hulooo stood up and pushed his steps aggressively towards Cathay, pawing his way. Cathay continued chuffing at Hulooo while walking backwards. Hulooo alternated between sniffing and pawing his mother but his light pawing would turn into nasty strikes. He even stood up on his feet at one time arms spreading, as if fighting. I got to say he looked much like a spoilt child lashing out at his parents.
Cathay, large hearted, allowed her son to make these aggressive moves towards her without any slight sign of anger or complaints. She just retreated and returned Hulooo's meaness with kind chuffing. Her behaviour made me think that she must know this is her son! How could she be so tolerant otherwise? She has always been very maternal and she must know! Hulooo's behaviour on the contrary made me feel as if he was getting back at Cathay for something. Maybe he was getting back at her for not rearing him at birth?! Maybe he also knew Cathay is his mother? Otherwise why was he so unafraid of this much bigger tiger, while getting terrified of his younger and much smaller brothers? He got to know the truth! (And cats have to have their own language!)
After a few rounds, Hulooo decided to call it truce. Cathay, as if nothing had happened, wandered back to her favourite tree and lay down next to it, admiring the setting sun..

I have realized why Hulooo was not scared of his mother but quite playful and rough with her. He was used to big animals… humans! So when he sees another big animal - his mother, he was just doing the same playing and challenging, as he does to us! These results are amazing as it contradicts the conventional zoo wisdom of how a mother and cub would interact when reintroduced. Another first for our project!
What a great and generous mother Cathay proves to be, yet again!