After a heavy snow fall in mid-January in northeast China's Jilin province, Siberian tigers and Far East leopards living wild within the Huichun Natural Reserve are having problems finding food on the snow-covered mountain where the deepest layer of snow is 1.4-meter thick.

In a bid to save the tigers and leopards, the reserve has called on local farmers to raise their livestock in the areas where the wild animals often look for food.

As an incentive, the reserve will provide forage and pay the farmers' breeding expenses. And once the livestock has been hunted by either tigers or leopards, double compensation will be given by the Reserve.

Zhen Jianghe, head of the Reserve, said that the method will not only help the wild animals to survive the winter but also will reduce the threats faced by local farmers to their life and personal assets.

As wild Manchurian tigers frequently appear in the eastern mountain area of Jilin province, at least 40 domestic animals, including cattle, horses and sheep, have been attacked or killed in recent years. And most of the farmers affected received compensation through legal procedures.

Local farmer Piao Longshan said that he won't hesitate to send his livestock into the natural reserve because the compensation was reasonable and the scarce wild tigers and leopards could be saved.

Wu Zhigang, an expert on wild animals with the Jilin Research Institute of Forestry, considered the measure a "Band-Aid against the survival rules of the natural world".

He called on the earliest recovery of a food chain suitable for tigers and leopards.

With two to four Siberian tigers and the same number of Far East leopards living wild in 88,913 hectares reserve, the Huichun Natural Reserve has the highest number of wild tigers and leopards in China.

Wild Siberian tigers and Far East leopards are on the verge of extinction and can be only found in Russia, China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

( People's Daily January 27, 2002)