Working staff from the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park load tigers onto a truck on September 26, 2007. The tigers are en route to their new home in Xiamen.
Fifteen Siberian tigers bred in the Siberian Tiger Park in northernmost China’s Heilongjiang Province were sent to Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian Province, on September 26, the Heilongjiang Daily reported today.
The population of Siberian tigers in the park has reached 800 this year. The park has experienced great financial burdens in recent years; feeding costs for a single adult tiger runs about 70 yuan (US$9.3) daily. In order to maintain normal park operations, the park has decided to relocate tigers to other places, thus allowing them to “make a living for themselves.”
One hundred Siberian tigers have already “migrated” to Shanxi, Jilin and other provinces.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, September 27, 2007)