Zoos Try to Raise Tiger Numbers with Viagra December 6, 2001 11:22 am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese zoos will give Viagra to South China tigers with no sex drive in a last ditch effort to raise the numbers of the highly endangered species, state media reported on Thursday.

A pair of male tigers showing "no sexual desire" at a zoo in China's southern province of Sichuan will be the first to receive doses of the anti-impotence drug, the Xinhua news agency said.

Cage life was responsible for their infertility, it said.

Ten zoos around the country are home to 49 South China tigers, a rare species experts say could become extinct because they are raised in isolation, live in unsuitable artificial surroundings and because of inbreeding, Xinhua said.

The annual meeting of the South China Tiger Protection Society found that six years of protection work had done little to help reduce the danger of extinction of the big cats, it said.

There are only 20-30 wild South China tigers remaining, Xinhua said.

Scientists have also considered using Viagra to boost the sex drive of captive Giant Pandas, another endangered species that has trouble mating.

One Chinese research institute even tried to educate impotent pandas about sex by showing them videos of other pandas mating.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001