South Africa: Releasing Captive Tigers

Tiger Moon Sanctuary:

Another recent release claim which has also generated some concern is that of the proposed Tiger Moon Sanctuary in South Africa. The plan involves the introduction of tigers into South Africa. Readers should note that tigers are not naturally found in this part of the world and never have been; this common belief is a myth.

The project has apparently worthwhile goals:

• To help save the tiger from extinction by breeding independent tigers that can be relocated back into the wild. To eventually restore 100,000 hectares of northern Karoo veld and grasslands damaged over the past 200 years. To restore the bio-diversity of the region and create a viable game reserve.

• Assemble a block of land of 14,000 hectares straddling the Orange River on the northern edge of the Karoo.
• Create a viable breeding stock of tigers and a facility where tiger research can be carried out and where tigers can be seen at close range.
  

• Care of the land, care of wildlife and care of people in the development of the project.
• Stock the land with a variety of ungulate species and create a wildlife spectacle to attract photographic tourism while at the same time providing food for the tigers.
• Restore the ecological integrity of land damaged by centuries of over-grazing and over-utilisation of water resources and thereby significantly raise the per hectare land value.
• Establish a tiger interpretive centre on the Orange River from where boating safaris to see the tigers will commence.
• Prepare the way for the return of independent tigers to their indigenous wild habitat in Asia.
• Set up the infrastructure for Phase II of Tiger Moon which will involve:
• The purchase of land to increase the size of the reserve to 100,000 hectares.
• The development of plans for increased income from tourism.
• Increasing the bio-diversity of the sanctuary with the purchase of cheetah, rhinoceros, hippo and giraffe, and the acquisition of more tigers to create a good stock of cats for breeding.
  

The cubs:

At present the project is based around two Bengal tigers which are being assessed for translocation suitability.

Taken as cubs from privately-owned Bowmanville Zoo in Canada, the pair have been living in South Africa and are now 18 months old. Time has been spent training them to electric fences and further effort will be spent in teaching them to avoid Land Rovers and buildings.

The juveniles initial release will be into an area of about 2,000 square kilometres where they will stay for a further two years. During this time the female should come into oestrus with the stated intention being to use artificial insemination on her.

In tigers this procedure has, to date, not been very successful. Admittedly, it is not that widely practiced, but where it has been done pregnancy rates have been very low.

Captive tigers breed quite freely and hormonal contraception is often used on them to prevent over population. Why it should be needed in the case of Tiger Moon Sanctuary is unclear, but it has been carried out quite successfully on the smaller cats.

It is with the chosen cubs that the first criticisms are raised by experts:

Expert Comment: The Bengal tigers held in the Karoo are not purebred and should not be used for breeding.

Answer From Tiger Moon: Ron Witfield, world renowned as having the best breeding line of Bengal tigers in the world, was responsible for the breeding of the Karoo pair of tigers. Their genealogy can be traced back through many generations.

Tiger Territory Note: As the article on Tara shows (following pages), genetic pollution is a very real threat and some wild Bengal tigers have already been affected by it. The Indian government spends approximately US$75 million a year to provide protection for its tigers; included in this is the aim of ensuring genetic purity. Government officials and experts are unlikely to want to risk further genetic pollution. Unless the tigers used in this programme can be traced right back to their wild ancestors, it seems unlikely permission to release them would be easily given. If they could be traced back to the wild they would be listed in the Bengal tiger studbook and already involved in a breeding programme. Many, many tigers in the world's zoos are genetically impure and there is no reason to suspect these two are not among them.

South African tiger release:

Expert Comment: The Karoo is unsuitable for tigers.

Answer From Tiger Moon: The tiger is a very resilient animal. It hunts in the snow in Siberia. It survived in the Caspian desert along riverbeds where it hunted for wild pigs. It hunts in swamps, dry deciduous forests, tall grass savannahs, in dry riverbeds and gorges. Tigers are very similar to leopards in their hunting technique. They do need cover to hunt and they need a large prey-species base as they require, when fully grown, about 5--6 kg of meat a day, equivalent to one 200 kg ungulate every few weeks. The 100,000 hectare Karoo block of land would be able to support sufficient prey species to provide food for a number of tigers. This is being studied by Dave Salmoni [a Canadian from the Bowmanville Zoo near Toronto] and will form part of his Masters degree. The dense thickets and the deep gorges near the Orange River provide more than adequate cover for the tigers to hunt.

Tiger Territory Note: It has been repeatedly proven during other release programmes that animals find it much easier to become established within their usual home ranges. The rate of failure for animals returned to areas other than their indigenous habitats is a great deal higher.

It must be acknowledged that the tiger's normal range is severely fragmented and tigers do live successfully in many parts of the world within captivity. However, it seems very odd to reduce the chances of success by basing the project within South Africa rather than an Asian country.

Is another programme required?

Expert Comment: There are about 1,000 tigers in scientific breeding programmes outside Asia. Many more thousands of tigers exist in zoos, circuses, private collections etc. Therefore there is no need for the creation of another tiger population in Africa.

Answer From Tiger Moon: We do not aim to breed tigers behind bars, we plan to breed them in the wild. The Tiger Moon Sanctuary aims to take tigers back into the wild in sufficient numbers to turn around the declining populations of tigers in Asia. No other programme, to our knowledge, has such ambitious plans. The project should be seen as a parallel conservation effort to that done in Asia and that done in captivity. It is our aim to work closely with tiger conservationists in Asia and elsewhere.

Tiger Territory Note: The intention to use artificial insemination would seem to make this a captive breeding programme, not a wild one, as it requires fairly invasive and repeated interference, more so than most zoos need to practice.

Expert Comment: It is impossible to teach zoo-bred tigers to fend for themselves in the wild.

Answer From Tiger Moon: This has already been done. To date the Karoo Bengal tigers have been successful in hunting baboon, vervet monkeys, hyrax, porcupine, antbear, warthog and blesbuck. This is all recorded on film.

Tiger Territory Note: It is accepted that this problem can already be partially solved. However, a tiger with only a partial knowledge of hunting techniques, combined with one which has already experienced food dependence on humans, leads to a very bad combination. The outcome is a tiger with a tendency to hang around human settlements and with a high risk of becoming a man-eater or attacking domestic stock as they make easy prey.

Introducing a new carnivore:

Expert Comment: Mixing carnivores will create a problem.

Answer From Tiger Moon: Leopards and tigers interact in Asia. There is scientific evidence that shows that in Nargarhole National Park, tiger’s and leopard’s prey selection overlap by 94%. It is not intended to introduce lions.

Tiger Territory Note: Where multiple carnivores occur naturally various ecological barriers prevent them conflicting. They may occur in areas which only have a slight overlap; they may prey on the same species, but one takes larger animals, while the other takes the young. The overlap may not matter as the number of prey animals in a given area may be very high, plenty enough to feed all the local carnivores. There has been no indication that the amount of available prey as compared to the requirements of the existing and new carnivores has been studied. What is said is that the area could hold enough prey species for the existing carnivores and a small number of tigers. It can only be presumed that the area presently does not have the required prey base and that these would also need to be established within the area. The intention is to substantially increase the number of tigers being maintained so this needs careful consideration.

Bio-diversity issues:

Expert Comment: The introduction of tigers into the Karoo would destroy the bio-diversity of the land.

Answer From Tiger Moon: The bio-diversity of the northern Karoo where the Sanctuary will be located has been systematically destroyed by 200 years of sheep farming. The project is aimed at restoring the bio-diversity that has been lost.

Tiger Territory Note: Depending upon the condition of the land, and what was there originally, it may, or may not significantly improve. Damaged land never recovers its original luxurious growth, but it may be replaced by other less-desirable plant life.

Expert Comment: The tiger is not a true African experience and will be seen as a tourist gimmick

Answer From Tiger Moon: If the project is communicated correctly and people are made aware of the project and its ultimate objectives, people will be keenly interested. In fact tigers in a natural setting are so spectacular that they will attract large numbers of people.

Tiger Territory Note: It is probable that the local people will be resistant to introducing another carnivore. This is a natural reaction, especially with the tiger's reputation as a man-eater. Given this, an attack or an escape from the area would almost certainly spell disaster for the project.

Money, money, money....

Expert Comment: The proposal is a classic case of tourism objectives driving conservation goals.

Answer From Tiger Moon: We can make no excuse for using eco-tourism to achieve conservation objectives: on the one hand to assist in the saving of the tiger from extinction and on the other to return the northern Karoo to its former productive state. In South Africa there is no other way, other than eco-tourism, of financing any significant conservation project. The state has clearly set its priorities: people come first. Scientific and on-the-ground conservation efforts take a back seat. This has recently been seen in the severe pruning and even closing of the Kruger Park and KwaZuluNatal Conservation Service scientific departments. Only private enterprise can fill the gap. This requires the raising of capital and a return on investment, albeit, in the long term.

Tiger Territory Note: There is an unfortunate emphasis within the project goals on financial return. This has been noted and a cause of concern from conservationists. Tiger Territory acknowledges that the breeding and maintaining of tigers is an expensive practice, but it would seem that this project needs to supply neither food nor housing which will be a large saving. Though a need to cover expenses can perhaps be understood there is a danger that conservation will be lost in favour of tourism.

The future:

Expert Comment: Is the reintroduction of captive tigers a feasible option for the future?

Answer From Tiger Moon: To our mind the most important aspect of our project is that of working closely with conservationists in Asia and China. The fundamental objective is to persuade people to stop trading in tiger parts and to set aside sufficiently large blocks of land to support tiger populations. Achieving these objectives may take longer than it takes to drive the tiger into extinction. We may be able to bridge that gap.

Tiger Territory Note: The objective of "persuade(ing) people to stop trading in tiger parts" is unlikely to have significant impact since the practice of using wildlife in medicines is so ingrained. More pressure could be applied if the project was based in an Asian country. Most of the people who regularly use tiger products will not have television, radio, or the Internet. They are unlikely to even know of the existence of the Tiger Moon Sanctuary. Even if the tigers could be bred and released, they would still go on to become fodder for poachers and end up being sold on the black market.

Conclusion: Tiger Moon Sanctuary bears watching. It is run by people with experience in African wildlife safaris and it has high goals. The project is still very on in its development so whether or not the stated aims and goals can be realised still remains to be seen.

(Ron and Julie Tiger Project in South Africa).