In its November 2007 issue, U.S. magazine Science published a photo named "flat cat?" and a column titled "Rare-Tiger Photo Flap Makes Fur Fly in China." The article dealt with the claimed discovery of the South China tiger, which had been believed extinct in the wild. The photo as well as the article stirred up the already heated controversy in China as to whether the photo was a fake or not.

The controversy first erupted in early October when Zhou Zhenglong, 52, a farmer and former hunter in Shaanxi's Zhenping County, was reported to have taken 71 (40 digital and 31 film) pictures of a rare wild South China tiger.

One of these digital pictures, purporting to be a wild South China tiger crouching in the midst of green bushes, was released by the Forestry Department of Shaanxi Province at a news conference on October 12, 2007.

Doubts

Although the pictures have been confirmed as genuine by local forestry authorities and the film is now with the State Forestry Administration (SFA), dozens of netizens have expressed doubts about the authenticity of the digital picture-the only one of the 71 taken to be released at the news conference-after it was posted on the Internet, especially in on-line forums discussing the use of Photoshop (PS) technology.

Netizens suspected that the picture had been processed with PS technology before release, citing the irregular effects of illumination and focus, and the unreal fur color of the tiger. Some doubted whether the tiger was a wild one because its eyes looked mild and dull, not frightening.

Forestry officials in Shaanxi rushed to Zhou's defence. They said that he had shot 71 photos but it had been decided to release only one shot. "Zhou risked his life in taking these photos, so they are very precious. We are being cautious and responsible in releasing one of the photos," said Zhu Julong, deputy head of the provincial forestry department.

Fu Dezhi, a botanist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, voiced doubts about the vegetation in the photograph, saying that it would be unusual to find a leaf of a size similar to the one that obscured much of the tiger's head.

"I have never discussed whether this is a real tiger because that issue is not my specialty," he wrote in a blog. "But based on my botanical expertise this is just a ‘paper tiger'."

Another scientist Xie Yan told journalists that he had examined the footprints, claimed tiger dejecta and tiger hair. Xie found they were not from a South China tiger.

Hu Huijian, a professional photographer, commented that the photos were definitely fake judging from the artificial color of the tiger's eyes on the two photos. Some other photographers conducted an experiment by shooting a paper tiger. The photos from the experiment turned out to be surprisingly similar to the two published photos.

"We hope the wild South China tiger really exists and if so, it must be amazing," said Science writer Virginia Morell.

Investigation team

The owner of the disputed photo, Zhou was angered by the suspicion over his photos. "It's beyond doubt that I really took the photos of a South China tiger. If they (netizens) have doubts about the photo provided by the forestry department, they can go and ask the officials," he said.

Zhou has been given 20,000 yuan ($2,666) as a reward for finding the tiger by the Shaanxi forestry authorities.

The local government closed an area of forest off from visitors, claiming it was for tiger's protection. But on the Internet it was considered a cover-up measure. On October 20, 2007, a reporter who tried to explore the scene where Zhou encountered the tiger was detained.

On October 24, Zhou and officials from the provincial government left for Beijing to report to the national ministry. Soon the national ministry declared it would found an investigation team.

The reason the local authorities showed their strong support for the claimed evidence of rare tiger was that there was a benefit chain behind the tiger hype, some media reported. The local government could use the tiger as an advertisement to stimulate the region's tourism industry. Also, they could apply for a fund from the state finances to set up a nature reserve area for tigers.

Shortly after the official release of Zhou's photo, the Zhenping County Government held a special meeting, in which the chief party leader of the county Cui Yonghui called for everyone to take advantage of the tiger incident to give the local economy a boost.

"If it is proved that we do have South China tigers living here, our country certainly will allocate money to establish a nature reserve and thus our villagers' lives will subsequently get better," said 55-year-old Peng Guohai who claimed to have found tiger footprints in October 2007.

Ambiguous attitude

The increasing public interest in this matter, especially the strong opinion of netizens, has put pressure on the SFA, which once had an ambiguous attitude toward the authenticity of the tiger photos. On December 9, 2007, the SFA ordered the Shaanxi provincial forestry department to hand over the photos to state agency for scrutiny.

During a live interview with the state-owned Xinhua News Agency on December 27, SFA spokesperson Cao Qingyao told the public that the photos had been scrutinized by the agency and the final result was within grasp.

Despite suspicions about the authenticity of the photos, no netizens cast doubt on the existence of South China tigers, an endangered tiger subspecies believed to have been extinct in the wild for more than 30 years.

The South China tiger, from which other subspecies such as the Siberian tiger evolved, is listed as one of the 10 most endangered animals in the world. It is the only tiger subspecies native to China's central and southern areas. In the early 1950s, its population was 4,000 across the country. Since 1964, no sightings of wild tigers have been reported in Shaanxi.

In 2003, a 10-month survey seeking evidence of the survival of South China tigers in the wild resulted in divergent opinions. The SFA, the survey organizer, declared that some tigers had survived in the mountains of south China. But Ronald Tilson, a leading American tiger specialist who led the survey, concluded that the South China tiger is extinct in the wild, although he conceded that a few individuals may exist, without their being a viable population.

Huang Gongqing, a Suzhou-based tiger expert, said that it did not matter whether the photographs were real or not. "If fewer than 100 of the species survive, it is basically impossible for them to reproduce. Its extinction is just a question of time."

Shaanxi provincial forestry department organized a 30-member South China tiger research team in 2006, which has carried out surveys in Zhenping since June last year. It said villagers had reported 17 sightings of South China tigers and heard their roars six times, but the claims could not be confirmed.

The forestry department has banned all hunting around the mountain where the wild South China tiger was allegedly spotted and ordered checkpoints at the main entrances to the mountain area to prevent uncontrolled entry.

"We will take this opportunity to draw up an overall protection plan and apply to establish a nature reserve for the South China tiger in areas around the mountain," Zhu Julong said.

The country has so far established 23 nature reserves which mostly focus on the protection of all kinds of tigers, according to Cao, adding that the natural environment for tigers has been improved after the country's efforts on projects such as returning land for farming to forestry.