For the love of tigers, she sets them free

Quan asked to try her idea, but instead of Meihuashan, she chose South Africa because she felt the country offered better infrastructure and expertise for wildlife care.

Quan was allowed to take zoo tigers to Laohu Valley Reserve in South Africa, a reserve Quan's team created from defunct sheep farms, for the purpose of rewilding the tigers. Laohu is the Chinese word for tiger.

Quan says rewilding has been challenging and rewarding for her.

She recalls Madonna, a very shy tigress that she saved from dehydration. She became very close to the animal.

"Madonna was very weak and had a shy personality. For a shy tiger to be translocated from Beijing to South Africa was hard, because she could hurt herself, so I was very nervous at the beginning."

Madonna survived the journey, but in just a few days she became ill from dehydration because she seldom had sunshine when she was in zoos, so she was unaware of the need to find shade.

"By the third day she was shaking and vomiting, and was very dehydrated. We called the vet, but the vet couldn't come immediately, and told us to feed the tiger water," she says.

As the local staff working at the Laohu Valley Reserve had no experience in interacting with tigers, they were scared about approaching Madonna to give her water, but the water bowl was too far away for Madonna to reach. Seeing the situation, Quan volunteered.

"Madonna was very weak, so I knew she wouldn't harm me. Even if she did, it would probably be just a few scratches."

After offering a bowl of water to Madonna, the tiger began drinking, and overnight she drank more and more. By the next morning she had recovered and was able to stand.

Quan says that because Madonna is very timid, she has always kept her distance from people, including her, but it all changed after that encounter.

From then on, Madonna and Quan became very close. Whenever Quan approaches the fence to Madonna's area, Madonna approaches the fence from her side and lies down next to the fence, and chuffs at her.