South China tiger faker sent to prison

September 2008. A farmer in southern China has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison and has been fined 2,000 yuan (About 300 dollars), .

Zhou Zhenlong and several forestry officials were arrested after images taken in 2007 of a South China tiger (which are thought to be extinct in the wild) were proved to be fakes.

In 2007 Zhou Zhenlong claimed that he had seen a tiger in the forests of southern China, and that he had taked some 70 photos, and he received some 20,000 yuan ($2,900) as a reward. However many bloggers from around the world, and especially within China, were very sceptical, and pointed out the photographs similarity to a well known poster of a tiger.

Officials later admitted that the photos were faked.