Viagra dose to help rare tigers breed

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.

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.

A pair of male tigers with "no sexual desire" at a zoo in the southern province of Sichuan will be the first to receive doses of the anti-impotence drug. Cage life was responsible for the tigers' infertility, the Xinhua state media said yesterday.

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

Tiger body parts, particularly bones, are a source of traditional Chinese medicines and their popularity has led to widespread poaching.