Above: Zhou Zhenglong proudly displays his photo of an endangered South China Tiger to the media. Shortly after it would be revealed as a fake.
Back in October of 2007, a farmer named Zhou Zhenglong claimed he saw and photographed something that no one had seen in 20 years – an endangered South China Tiger. Why would Zhou have gone into a jungle alone armed with nothing but a digital camera looking for a tiger? Well, it might have had a little something to do with the $146,000 reward for proof such a tiger still existed. And amazingly he had obtained proof! Digital photos! Could he have his reward now, please?
He was paid a portion of the reward but it wasn’t soon after that people started asking questions like: Why in all the 22 photographs he took does the tiger never change its expression or move at all? Why does the color of the tiger seem so bright as compared to the surrounding foliage? Why does some of the foliage appear to be larger than the tiger? What seems familiar about this tiger image? How did he manage to get so close to the tiger without it, you know, KILLING HIM?
All those questions were answered when someone came across the original tiger image which was from a poster that had been popular in China a few years prior. It appears that Zhou did nothing but prop a paper tiger amongst the grass and leaves and take photos of it…
Above: Zhou’s “photographic proof”. Below: the original poster from which he made the tiger cut out he placed in the forest and photographed.
Needless to say the Chinese government was none too pleased. Even though they have been known for some fakery themselves, Zhou was arrested for fraud and today he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and a $290 fine.
Related articles…
RARE-TIGER PHOTO FLAP MAKES FUR FLY IN CHINA [Science Magazine]
Chinese man sentenced to prison for faking tiger photos [China View]
China farmer sentenced for faked rare tiger photos [Associated Press]
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