NANJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- A five-year-old South China tiger left for South Africa on Monday to become the mate of a tigress who left China in 2004 as part of the Save China's Tigers conservation program.

    "The tiger will succeed Hope, who died of inflammation of the colon in 2005, as the husband of Cathay," said an engineer from the South China tiger breeding center in Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu Province, surnamed Lu.

    The flight to the Tiger Valley Reserve in South Africa's Free State province will take 40 hours, he said.

    "The tiger is 70 centimeters tall and weighs 140 kg. He was vaccinated against rabies and had an electronic chip implanted last month as part of its preparation for the trip," said Qian Wei, an official with the Suzhou Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

    "The tiger is in good shape and the long journey won't be a problem for him," said Qian.

    "According to the plan, the tigress Cathay will meet the groom after he gets used to his new environment," said Lu. "If everything goes well, a group of tiger cubs are expected to be born in 2008."

    The tiger will also be trained to hunt, but Lu insisted that the tiger would be returned to China after the cubs are born.

    With only about 10 to 30 left in the wild and another 60 in captivity, the South China Tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis), from which other sub-species such as the Siberian Tiger evolved, has been listed as one of the world's ten most endangered animals.

    However, China does not possess the expertise to train its tigers to re-enter the wild.

    To save the tigers from extinction, London-based Save China's Tigers and Chinese Tigers South Africa signed an accord in 2002 to send between five and 10 South China Tigers to South Africa to learn how to survive in the wild.