Difficult Hunt: Tiger "Hope" Conquer Antelope in South Africa!

The hero of this video is Hope, one of the pioneer tigers in the South China Tiger Rewilding & Reintroduction program. Hope unfortunately died of lung disease and heart failure in August 2005 but he left us with this fantastic memory of him.

On March 15th 2005, Hope and Cathay embarked on their first day of rewilding training after their radio collaring. Three antelope were released that day.

Cathay tackled the first one and Hope came to her assistance quickly. For some reason, the tigers seem to have trouble delivering a fatal bite to the antelope today. It could be that they still suffer some side effect from the anesthesia as they were panting heavily, as if lacking the strength. On a couple of occasions, Cathay held the antelope in a way almost like embracing a pet.

Afterwards Hope went after a second one which jumped left and right and up and down. At one point, Hope's front paws were holding onto to it while his hind legs were jerked off the ground by the frantic antelope. He managed to push the antelope down to the ground. However, before he finished off this antelope, his eyes suddenly caught the sight of the third running antelope and went after it with Cathay. Hope gave up after a little while being too tired.

In the meantime, the second antelope was crouching in the grass. Hope slowly walked back to it. When he got close, the antelope struggled to stand up. Although its right hind leg injured, he was still able to stand. Hope was a bit taken aback when the antelope confronted him in a challenging position. With the pair of horns right in his face, he looked unsure of himself. For quite some time, the tiger and the antelope were staring at one another eye to eye. Hope even backed down a few steps to avoid being poked in the face.

Hope kept looking away- was he looking for Cathay in order to get help? Feeling lost? Or buying time? He started circling around the antelope, but the antelope turned to face him with its horns no matter which direction Hope turned and challenged Hope.. Hope was visibly irritated by the antelope's action and the next move the antelope made proved to be fatal -Hope jumped up with a swirl of his body and pushed down the antelope with both his paws and a bite on its neck- He had avoided the sharp horns and proved that he had been just waiting for the antelope to make a fatal mistake.

This video is copyrighted and cannot be used without the express permission of Save China's Tigers.
www.savechinastigers.org

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[nasermeter]

fuck it, why don't they just let the tiger in the amazona instead of south africa?

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@nasermeter

Its because South Africa provides land, game, and expertise needed to save the critically endangered South China Tigers. Furthermore these tigers will be sent back to China to be released after their training is over. We have no intention of releasing them in Africa. =)

[bowler45]

Why release these back into china when Africa is prob the safest place for them as of now? Let's try to save em wherever we can. No matter what kinda sanctuary they build in Asia, poachers are always gonna find a way around.

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@bowler45

You are very right. That's one of our very main concerns too.

[o0ohahahao0o]

And this is a good idea ...why? The tiger's presence is obviously a destabilization of the region's ecosystem. What about the organism that occupies the original niche that you're attempting to (temporarily) fill the tiger in? How about the decrease in local antelope (and other potential prey's) population? Saving the South China Tiger? How about saving the remaining cheetah population that is already crippled by inbreeding? This isn't helping.

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@o0ohahahao0o

Laohu Valley reserve was built from 17 defunct Sheep Farms, which has no healthy habitat or even wildlife. So there is no healthy eco-system to begin with. We are bring in Antelopes, blesbucks, wildebeests, aardwolves, AWDs, Cheetahs and other animals into the reserve and to re-create a reserve. right Now, Tigers are used as top predator, hence they actually help balance this eco-system we created out of nothing. =)

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@shawaiqqa

Hello there, this is very untrue, because over 80% of the experts worldwide, even those involved in our project has defined the Tiger as the strongest cat, and most experts favor the Bengal or Siberian Tiger against the lion in a fight.

[thengamam]

its zoo tigers..dont know how to hunt.. take original wild bengal tiger into africa.

[BanginIzz4Kidzz]

deng that tiger knows how to fight. hahaa he dodged the antelopes horns and bit him in the back of the neck. hahaha freakin smart. lol

[redseamba]

in 2 years we will see real battles in africane savana!

Tiger VS Lion !!

[ThisIsDynamic]

@SAVECHINASTIGERS yes of course but i believe they are nearly extinct in china for a real reason, their new habitat for the future in my mind should be South Africa.

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@ThisIsDynamic

This is because.... South China Tigers are native only to Southern and Eastern China, not to South Africa. Yes, they may thrive in the wilderness in South Africa, however they do not really belong there. Conservation is about saving a species in its Natural habitat. Hence, it is our goal to save them in China. Of course the main concern is to ensure that they survive(no matter where they are). Thank you for your concern and support! Ideally they can live wild and free at home.

[SAVECHINASTIGERS]

@thengamam

South China Tigers are EXTINCT in the wild, that's why we are saving them. That's why we have no choice, but to send them to South Africa from Chinese Zoos are to rewild them and one day send them back to China. If we bring wild bengal tigers..... what's the point of "rewilding"? =)