With the approval of the China Zoo Association, the Shenzhen Safari Park will introduce five to six South China Tigers from Shanghai, making it the first safari park in the country to have the rare tigers.
   
Zhong Huaqiao, general manager of the safari park, said this Sunday during a seminar on protection projects for South China Tigers.
   
The seminar, held at the safari park from Friday to Monday, attracted more than 60 experts from throughout the country.
   
As rare as the giant panda, the South China Tiger is on the World Wildlife Fund's list of the world's 10 animals close to extinction.
   
Experts believe there are only about 20 wild South China Tigers living in the mountains bordering Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong provinces.
   
The total number of South China Tigers in zoos in China has increased from only four at the beginning of the 1960s to 78 today.

(Shenzhen Daily November 15, 2004)