Tiger Woods snuggles closer to Madonna's soft fur coat, licking her behind the ear. She playfully nips his neck and rolls over as the African sun beats down and warms their bodies. Such is the life of the natural world's newest celebrity couple: Tiger Woods and Madonna are highly endangered Chinese tiger cubs.
Li Quan, a former fashion executive and founder of Save China's Tigers (SCT), watches the cubs from less than a metre away. London-based Quan, 42, has flown the tigers to Lahou Valley Reserve, six hours' drive southwest of Johannesburg. The cubs are the latest inductees of Quan's radical conservation plan to save the Chinese tiger from extinction. Only 64 captive tigers remain and the last official sighting of one in the wild was more than two decades ago.
The subspecies, also known as the South China tiger, numbered about 4,000 in 1959 when Mao Zedong declared it a pest. It was subsequently hunted mercilessly, with bounties paid for its hide. Since then, illegal poaching for tiger parts used in traditional medicine and loss of habitat as China's population exploded to 1.2 billion further decimated the subspecies. Quan, who once led a very different life as head of international licensing for Gucci, plans to relocate up to 10 cubs to South Africa for 'rewilding', or training, before returning them to yet-to-be-established wildlife reserves on the mainland.
Unaware their future hangs in the balance, the cubs are coming to terms with their new home after a two-day journey on a Cathay Pacific-sponsored flight from China. As soon as the transportation crates are opened in the 200-square-metre quarantine camp at Lahou (meaning tiger in Putonghua) Valley Reserve, Madonna runs into the electric fence, receiving a mild shock. The cub is clearly disorientated in such a large and grassy expanse. Her former home was a small concrete cage at the Shanghai zoo. Madonna then starts to pace, typical zoo-induced behaviour.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods stays inside his crate, hiding from the media throng recording the pair's arrival. Only once the pack of photographers has left does the eight-month-old male make his way across the grass to the sun shelter. Tiger Woods does not let the long flight and subsequent jet lag ruin his appetite and is soon devouring raw lamb and beef. When he is tossed a dead rabbit he struts around the enclosure as if he had caught the animal himself.
Over the next few days this pattern continues - Madonna baking in the scorching African sun, drinking little and eating nothing, while Tiger Woods rolls about playfully on his back under the shelter, eating both his and Madonna's food rations. Soon Madonna is dehydrated and needs antibiotics for an infection in her paw. A vet is called. Quan sets up a 24-hour vigil with reserve manager Peter Openshaw and tiger supervisor Shelly Plumb to ensure the cub is drinking. Quan assumes the role of surrogate mother to the ailing cub, who finally moves under the shelter. She places a water bowl under Madonna's jaw and makes a deep purr-like sound to calm both cubs. Tiger Woods has adopted the role of protector, growling at any humans who dare to approach.
