The China Photographers Association (CPA) organized a group, including senior experts of digital images, photographers and visual arts critics, in order to make a joint identification of some 40 pictures of the South China Tiger. The group analyzed the photography and technology of the digital images.

A farmer in Shannxi Province claimed to have taken the pictures of the South China Tiger this October. Afterwards, a netizen posted a commercial New Year's picture of a tiger that hangs on the wall of his home. The netizen argued that the farmer's pictures were fakes, creating a controversy about the authenticity of those pictures that has never stopped since the Internet posting.

After careful identification and analysis, the experts have concluded that the 40 pictures were not valid originals; they should not be taken as evidence to prove the existence of the tiger in question. The identification group also declared that the pictures had been taken by experienced photographers or under the direction of an expert, and they will inform the public in due time.

The tiger in the No.6 picture and the No.30 picture has been identified as the same as that in the commercial New Year picture, according to the Huaxia Evidence Identification Center.

A Doctor group led by Lai Jianhuang, Vice Chairman of the Society of Images and Graphics of Guangdong Province as well as a professor of Sun Yat-sen University, maintained that the tiger's outline in the No.6 picture is almost identical to that in the commercial New Year picture, and that the textures in both of the pictures are also very similar.

Liu Chiping, an expert with a fingerprint identification commission, also came to the same conclusion in terms of topology.

"It is unreasonable that the tiger in those pictures could keep that still for such a long period of time. The tiger's stripes in both the pictures and the commercial New Year picture are exactly the same, and their gestures are also very similar,"said a detective named Li Changyu yesterday morning.

(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, December 3, 2007)