China, October 15 : A South-China tiger, thought to be ‘functionally extinct’ in the wild, was photographed in Shanxi Province in China by the task force initiated in 2006 by the Provincial Forestry Department and the local county government . Zhou Zhenglong, a former hunter who headed the task force designed to investigate reports of sporadic wild tiger sightings in Shanxi Province of China, photographed the tiger after a few sightings. The Propaganda Center of the Shangxi Province Forestry Bureau confirmed the photograph as that of the sub-species.

The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis ) is the rarest of the six surviving sub-species (after the distinction of the sub-species Indo-Chinese tiger into two groups: the Northern Indo-Chinese tiger and the Malayan tiger) found worldwide. The sub-species was believed to be ‘functionally extinct’ by the experts, which means that the population was not genetically viable and was naturally destined to become extinct. This is the first concrete evidence of this sub-species in the wild in more than two decades.

Experts believe that only about 50 wild tigers survive in China today, as against 4,000 just 40 years ago. The main reason for the population decline of tigers in China and abroad is believed to be the use of tiger parts in the Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs).

“Coupled with habitat and prey restoration, the only hope for wild tigers in China and wherever they still exist, is to stop the trade in tiger parts in any form and from any source,” says Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia Regional Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the international partner of the Wildlife Trust of India .

More than 5,000 tigers survive in captivity in China, awaiting slaughter if the trade ban on tiger parts is repealed.