Save China's Tigers - The Laohu Valley Reserve

The Laohu Valley Reserve

The Laohu Valley Reserve (LVR) is a roughly 350 square kilometer private reserve near Philippolis in the Free State. It has been created with the aims of rewilding captive-born South China tigers and for South African biodiversity conservation in general. LVR was created in 2002 out of 17 defunct sheep farms, and efforts to return the overgrazed land to natural status are ongoing. The South China Tigers at LVR for rewilding are kept confined to a tiger-proof camp complex of roughly 1.8 square kilometers, with other areas of the reserve being used to protect native South African species. The word "laohu" is a Chinese term for tiger.

Li Quan initially enlisted the help of John Varty (wildlife filmmaker) and Dave Varty (eco-tourism developer) in South Africa to assist in the rehabilitation process. However, Li Quan and her husband, investment banker Stuart Bray, became concerned that the Varty's were misusing the project's funds to buy land for themselves. Later, in July 2002, the Varty's admitted to borrowing a small portion of Bray's money. After a legal audit, it was discovered that over R5-million had been borrowed by the Varty's, having been used to pay off the Varty's Londolozi Productions’ debt, on unauthorised salaries and were also said to have gone into the Varty's personal loan accounts and towards paying off their Betty's Bay seaside property. Finally, in October 2002, a few weeks before an agreement was due to be signed with Chinese authorities after the Chinese Wildlife Department began to recognize the project's conservation value, the Varty's pulled out of the project. John Varty has since founded his own "tiger rewilding" project, Tiger Canyons, also near Philippolis, using the land he acquired using Bray's funds. However, Tiger Canyons uses unendangered, hybrid breeds of tigers and has been criticized as having no conservation value and only being used for the purpose of creating the film Living With Tigers, which would air on Discovery Channel.