A Chinese farmer who has been widely accused of fabricating a photo of a south China tiger in the wild, a species that had not been spotted for more than 30 years, says he will return to the wild to track the big cat and substantiate his pictures.

On the afternoon of Oct. 3 Zhou Zhenglong, 52, a former hunter from Chengguan Township in Shaanxi Province's Zhenping County, reportedly took more than 70 snaps of the rare tiger with a digital camera as well as on standard photographic film. Experts confirmed the images showed one of the elusive cats.

But Chinese Internet users and a botanist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences have questioned the veracity of his images, claiming that digital technologies might have been used to alter the images.

An Internet user under the name "Panzhihua xydz" posted a very similar poster image. "I thought Zhou's photo was somehow familiar, then I found the same picture hanging on the wall of my mother's home in Panzhihua," said the man, surnamed Li.

Li, from southwestern Sichuan Province, said that the two images were "almost the same" except the one on his mother's wall was lighter in color.

Other Internet users reported seeing the same poster for sale and its producer, a company based in the eastern Zhejiang Province, admitted to having printed and sold the tiger poster five years ago.

"We have received many calls asking whether our poster was a replica of Zhou's photo," said Luo Guanglin, general manager of Vista Printing and Wrapping Co. Ltd., in Yiwu. "But that's ridiculous. We published the tiger posters at the end of 2002."

Luo refused to comment on the public allegations that Zhou Zhenglong's photo was a fabrication. "As a company we're not in a position to make any judgment to that effect. Nor do we wish to get involved in the dispute."

The poster, which formerly sold for 4.5 yuan, is now greatly sought after across China. Currently it sells for 10 yuan in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong Province.

Fu Dezhi, a noted botanist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the poster "should have revealed the fraudulent nature of the case and put an end to the story.”

Yet Zhou Zhenglong insists that he captured a real tiger on his camera, and has been searching for tiger tracks in the wild for the last three days. "I need to find more evidence to defend myself."

Zhou asserted earlier that he had risked his life to take the photo. "I was prepared to be killed by the tiger.”

Forestry authorities in Zhenping County, where the tiger was purportedly seen, insisted that the wild cat did in fact exist in nearby mountains.

"We have had more than 20 reports since July of tiger tracks, roars, fur and spoor. There have also been reports of attacks on other wild animals," the county's forestry department said in an official statement.

Amid media speculation over the county's attempt to gain publicity, Yuan Chunqing, governor of Shaanxi Province, said the government had done nothing wrong to encourage the citizens to track endangered animals. "It's far more important for us to carry out research rather than to prove the veracity of a photo," he said. "I'm sure we'll know the truth soon."

Zhou's alleged discovery and photo of the tiger also appeared in Science magazine, which quoted Gary Koehler, of Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife, as saying, "It's tremendously exciting news, if it can be substantiated".

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)