Zimbabwe is set to receive, by the end of the year, four Siberian tigers, the largest cat in the world, from China for captive breeding in a wildlife exchange program, according to local reports in Harare on Thursday.

Zimbabwe Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema said on Wednesday these are the first four tigers Zimbabwe would receive for captive breeding. "We do not have the tiger in this country and we would like to benefit from the exchange program with China," he said..

"We have also given them various animals for breeding purposes in China, including zebra, impala and elephants," Nhema said.

Nhema said three Chinese wildlife experts from the World Wildlife Limited are currently in the country to assess whether the country's environment is conducive for the breeding of the tigers.

"We are happy that the three experts found our animal habitats friendly to the requirements that are compulsory for tiger breeding and we expect the animals would be here as soon as possible," Nhema said.

The tigers would be placed in protected areas where they would be used for educational purposes and for sightseeing, according to the minister.

Nhema said there is an amazing realization by most countries that wildlife conservation and concern for natural resources yielded huge benefits for the world's economies.

He said the authority would like to adopt the concept of zoos to enable the country to breed more of the endangered species before they are released back into the wild after they have significantly multiplied their number.

(Xinihua News Agency September 15, 2005)