Reply To: Wild South China tiger photographed in Shaanxi

[Martin W]

No real surprise in this story from Xinhua:

Quote:

Chinese photographers said the South China tiger on digital pictures, released by forestry authorities and widely discussed on the Internet, is a fake.

A preparatory digital picture appraisal center under the China Photographers Society, released the results on Sunday after a team of photographic experts assessed the 40 digital pictures provided by NetEase, a Chinese Internet company.

The center said technological analysis from last Tuesday through Sunday showed the South China tiger on the 40 pictures was not real and could not serve as evidence for the existence of the wild animal.

The pictures must have been taken by people with photographic experience or under guidance and could not be done independently by a person without any photographic experience, claimed experts.

Photographers: South China tiger pictures are fake
Even so, officials not all ready to omit the error:

Quote:

Chinese government officials have refused to concede photographs of a rare South China tiger in the wild are fake, a day after the China Photographers Society confirmed the images were not real.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, State Forestry Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao reserved judgment on the authenticity of the controversial pictures which have caused a storm on the Internet, saying more concrete evidence was needed.

Government officials refuse to accept South China tiger photos are fake