The Manchurian Tiger Park, founded in 1986, is located at the northern outskirts of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Home to the largest herd of Manchurian tigers in China, the park attracts a continuous flow of visitors each year.
Tigers in the park roam freely through their manors, capturing and killing other animals provided by workers, and are just as ferocious as those living in the wild.
Visitors are allowed a rare glimpse of the wild side of tigers from a specially-reinforced car that regularly travels around the park.
On our recent visit to the park, a female tiger crossed our path, and laid down in front of our car. The driver had no choice but to throw the tiger a piece of fresh meat in order to free our path. The tiger got to her feet, snatched the meat and moved on.
Fighting between the tigers for possession of the manors sometimes results in killing and, in one case, injuries.
But visitors can find park rangers patrolling the park to prevent such incidents.
In 1998, during mating time, a male tiger attacked a female tiger, fracturing two of her ribs and leaving a cavity in her chest. Doctors did their best to save her life but she died.
Although tragic, this accident, some experts said, shows that the tigers in the park have regained their inherited wild nature. That is the goal of the park, since Manchurian tigers cannot survive in the wild unless they maintain their basic nature.
Manchurian tigers are endangered species under protection according to the law.
China launched a campaign to protect Manchurian tigers in 1986, setting up the Manchurian Tiger Park.
Experts have tried to increase the tiger population using artificial reproduction technology before releasing them to the wilderness. In the past two years, they have occasionally spotted Manchurian tigers in Heilongjiang and
Jilin provinces, which was seen as an encouraging indication of the success of a year-long effort to protect the species.
So far, more than 20 nature reserves for tigers have been set up in China. But many difficulties still remain in the effort to save tigers.
Tough job
The biggest problem is a lack of funds from the government and local communities. Another is that even if the number of tigers can be substantially increased, releasing the animals to the wilderness remains a tough job, as tigers brought up by humans may find it hard to adapt to their natural environment, experts said.
It is necessary to keep working to raise public awareness about conservation, improve environmental conditions in the habitats of tigers and promote better law enforcement against poachers and smugglers, experts have suggested. Hopefully, visitors may one day hear the roaring of tigers again in the forests of Northeast China where they belong.
Tigers belong to the cat family, which has 3 million years of history. Considered a type of ruling power and authority in the jungle world, tigers are known as the "King of animals." Compared with its seven cousins, the Manchurian tiger is more powerful and larger in size. Most Manchurian tigers live in Northeast China and the Siberian area in Russia, hence its other name - the Siberian tiger.
Tigers are now on the verge of extinction, with less than 100 found alive in the wild in China, according to a 1996 survey from the World Conservation Union and the World Wildlife Fund.
At the turn of the century, around 100,000 tigers were living in the wild, but the number has dropped to 5,000 to 7,500.
Most of the tigers were hunted for their bones, claws or other parts by poachers.
Tiger bones have long been used to treat rheumatism and related ailments in traditional Chinese medicine.
Poachers motivated by lucrative profits sought to capture the tigers. The poachers, along with the tigers' dwindling habitats, are the main factors hastening the extinction of the species.
Since 1990, the number of tigers in the wild has increased, but still no more than 20 have been found so far.
Academic research indicates that the Manchurian tiger will eventually become extinct, like the dinosaur, unless their numbers can climb up to about 1,000.
New home
In another development, 50 tigers are taking a journey in a caravan from their old home in
Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to a better home in Pear Spring National Forest Park in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.
The 50 tigers, who set off on April 16, belong to the same species as South China tigers, Manchurian tigers and Bangladesh's Royal Bengal tigers. The tigers, among the world's 10 most endangered wildlife species, have been bred and brought up at a tiger reproducing base called Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Safari in Guilin.
Three veterinarians and 15 park rangers will accompany the tigers to their new home, which
Guilin safari authorities say provides a better environment for the tigers.
The transport will abide by international regulations to prevent the tigers from being injured.
