Chinese farmer Zhou Zhenglong, 52, has gone back into the wilderness to take more photos of the tiger, in an effort to refute accusations that the photo he earlier submitted was a fake.

A former hunter in the Chengguan Township of Zhenping County, Zhou said that he planned to track down the tiger and bring back more photographs. He has been searching for tiger tracks for the past three days.

"I need to find more evidence to defend myself," Xinhua quoted Zhou.

The controversy started with a photo Zhou submitted to forestry officials, who were excited to publicize photographic evidence of the south China tiger, a species that is known to be nearly extinct.

Cyber experts, however, adamantly judged the photograph as fake, with them using certain minor details in the photograph as proof of their claim.

Some of the details of the photograph, which was made into a poster, were the tiger's "tame" expression, and the unrealistic coat color.

The biggest blow, however, was a claim made by a Chinese man who identified the photo to be very similar to one hanging in his mother's home.

"Zhou's photograph seemed familiar. I found the same image on a calendar in my mother's home," said the man, whom India's Daily News Analysis identified only as Li. "It's the same picture. Even the stripes are identical."

The posters of what is being referred to as the "paper tiger" has been in circulation since 2002. The printing press's manager, upon being asked if the poster was a copy of Zhou's photograph, was enraged and called the claim "ridiculous."

According to the Daily News Analysis, the Southern Metropolis Daily noted the people's opinion as of significance.

The Southern Metropolis Daily acknowledged the popular dissident, saying that "the era when people blindly believe what the government tells them is over. Likewise, the era when the people are too afraid to speak out is also over."