Shots of tiger in the wild not real

Thirteen government officials have been punished and a man arrested for presenting false evidence to prove the highly endangered South China tiger existed in the wild.

The Shaanxi provincial government said Sunday that farmer Zhou Zhenglong had fudged some photographs for the purpose. The government had earlier claimed the photos were real.

2007

Oct 12: The forestry department of Shaanxi province releases a set of photographs of the South China tiger at a news conference. It says Zhou Zhenglong, a farmer in Zhenping county, shot them. Netizens immediately cast doubt on the authenticity of the photos.

Oct 19: Fu Dezhi, an expert with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says the photographs are staged.