Sunday, September 28, 2008

CHINESE FARMER SENT TO PRISON FOR FAKING PHOTO OF A RARE TIGER

Well...it was a pretty bad fake (See left).

A Chinese farmer who claimed to have taken photos of a rare tiger was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Saturday for faking the pictures, a court official and state media said.

Zhou Zhenglong was tried for fraud in Xunyang County People's Court in Shaanxi province Saturday morning and was sentenced a little over five hours later, the Xinhua News Agency said.

An official who answered the telephone at the court said in addition to the prison sentence, Zhou was also fined $290. She refused to give her name or any other details.

According to official media accounts, Zhou, aged 54, heard that a reward of about $146,000 had been offered to anyone who found an endangered South China tiger in the wild, where one had not been seen for more than 20 years.

Last October, he emerged from the woods in Shaanxi with his claim of a tiger sighting, plus dozens of digital photos. The provincial forestry department rewarded him with $2,900.

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