The face of a doomed species
Tigers driven to edge of extinction by poachers and loss of habitat
By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
Published: 31 October 2007
The disastrous impact of poaching and the destruction of the natural habitat of one of the planet's most threatened animals will be made clear tomorrow when the Indian government is told that its remaining tiger population could be as low as 1,300.
The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will be told that drastic action has to be taken against the two forces threatening the big cat's chance of survival.
"That size of a population is scientifically not viable," said Valmik Thapar, a tiger expert and member of the National Board of Wildlife, which is due to convene in Delhi for a meeting chaired by Mr Singh. "But in the real world you have to try as hard as you can."
Along with the polar bear, the tiger symbolises perhaps more than any other large creature the majesty and power of the natural world. At the same time the tawdry story of the tiger's decline – not just in India but in other countries where it clings on desperately – is a stark indictment of mankind's apparent inability to preserve the natural habitats on which it depends.
No one knows precisely how many tigers are left in India, home to perhaps 80 per cent of the world's remaining animals and which, at the turn of the 20th century, was estimated to have up to 100,000 animals. It is believed there were about 5,000 at the start of the decade.
The most recent census, conducted in 2001 and 2002, put the figure at 3,642. But many experts questioned the way in which that count was handled and a new census was carried out by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India using a more scientifically robust method. While the findings will not be formally announced until the end of the year, preliminary results of the new count have put the population at between 1,300 and 1,500.
"The new figures and facts came as no surprise to conservationists, although the government is still recovering from the shock," said Belinda Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, which has several tiger programmes. "In Madhya Pradesh – which is known as the Tiger State – the study has shown a loss of 61 per cent on the figures of the previous tiger census. The state of Maharashtra has shown a loss of 57 per cent."
She added: "In the past census... many tigers were found outside the tiger reserves. The new study shows virtually no tigers outside the tiger reserves."
Experts say the reasons for the decline of the tiger are simple. Not enough is being done to halt the continued poaching of the animals, which are highly prized in China and other parts of east Asia for their pelts and body parts. A tiger skin can fetch up to £5,300 while tiger penises – traditionally believed to have near-magical properties – can fetch £14,000 per kilo.
The tiger has suffered from a loss of its habitat as a result of large-scale mining and hydro-power dam projects. The loss of habitat and prey encourages tigers, pure carnivores, to seize domestic livestock which in turn aggravates local farmers. The tiger is the national symbol but, in the past five years, poachers have been killing them at the rate of one a day, campaigners believe.
Debbie Banks of the Environmental Investigations Agency, a London-based campaign group, said development projects often resulted in the displacement of communities who are left with a choice of moving to the slums of large cities or into the forests. "Living in the forests brings them into conflict with wildlife and the under-resourced, under-trained, ill-equipped forest department staff," she said.
Mr Thapar, 55, who has written 15 books about tigers during three decades working with the animals, has said it would now "take a miracle" to save them. He warned of the impact of the Recognition of Forest Rights Act, a piece of legislation passed last year and expected to become law in the coming months, which grants some of India's most impoverished communities the right to own and live in the forests.
The problem, he said, was that all evidence showed humans and tigers could not co-exist. "If you are not going to set aside habitats where there are no humans then you cannot have tigers," he said.
The decline of the tiger is not isolated to India. In the past century, tiger populations across the world have slumped by 95 per cent and, across a broad chunk of Asia, tigers are now confronting extinction. Indeed, of the nine known sub-species of tiger, three (the Caspian, Javanese and Balinese) are already extinct while another, the South China tiger, is nearing extinction in the wild with perhaps fewer than 30 surviving.
An estimated 4,000 of the South China sub-species – the only one native to central and southern China –roamed the country 50 years ago but its habitat has been dramatically reduced by the country's rapid economic growth and the sub-species was declared officially extinct in 2003. Just this week, the Chinese authorities banned hunting in a mountainous area of Shaanxi province of north-west China where a young South China tiger was apparently sighted by a farmer. The sighting has generated much excitement among conservationists and a team of experts has been set up to conduct a search.
Ms Wright said that, in India, there may now only be two genetically viable populations of Bengal tiger, as the country's sub-species is known. Those live in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttaranchal and the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, which is said to haveinspired Rudyard Kipling to write The Jungle Book.
There have been the occasional pieces of good news. Last month about 20 tigers were discovered in a mountainous forest range in the western state of Maharashtra from where they were thought to have long disappeared. But among such rare flashes of hope, experts say the evidence of the tiger's ongoing decline have been all too clear. In February 2005, it was revealed all the tigers in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan had been killed by poachers. Meanwhile, the size of the continuing trade in illegal tiger parts has been revealed by activists working undercover in places such as Tibet where there is flourishing business.
A senior official in India's Environment Ministry said tomorrow's meeting would evaluate progress at implementing recommendations made at the last meeting 18 months ago.
"Everyone is waiting for the [official] tiger report – even the Prime Minister," the official told the Asian Age newspaper.
"It is only after the report is tabled that we will get the real picture, which we know is not going to be rosy. We know that we have lost large numbers of our big cats."
http://environment.independent.co.uk/nature/article3112841.ece
Friday 23 November 2007
Tuesday 25 September 2007
How zoo’s tigers were shot for the taxidermist
Lingering death of two caged animals killed so that they could be skinned and stuffed
By Daniel Foggo
See the videos: 1. Zoo tigers are shot for their skins. It is unclear whether they are being killed by Jean-Pierre Gerard, a Belgian taxidermist, or by one of his associates. Warning: shows prolonged sequences of animals suffering
2. One of the shot tigers is skinned by Gerard
A TAXIDERMIST exposed for buying healthy exotic animals from zoos in order to stuff them has been filmed taking part in the brutal slaughter of two caged tigers for their skins.
Jean-Pierre Gerard, who last month offered undercover Sunday Times reporters the pelts of young zoo tigers for £3,000 each, was present while two further specimens from a German zoo were peppered with bullets.
Video footage shows the animals suffering a lingering death as they were repeatedly and inexpertly shot over more than 20 minutes. Afterwards Gerard is shown skinning the animals with a view to their being stuffed. He also confessed on camera to having shot the animals himself, although he subsequently insisted to The Sunday Times that his “friend”, who he would not identify, had actually pulled the trigger.
Gerard has fuelled his lucrative taxidermy business buying surplus animals from zoos across Europe. The footage now suggests that he has also been involved in the death of unwanted zoo animals as well as stuffing them.
Rare captive species are routinely being overbred by zoos, which use cubs to attract visitors in the peak summer season. Later in the year “excess” animals are killed and their skins sold to Gerard for no other reason than the fact that the zoos no longer have any room for them.
Belgian police said this weekend they would like to view the footage and Bart Staes, a Belgian MEP, said he would table questions in the European parliament this week.
The video raises new questions over the provenance of the tiger skins offered for sale to undercover reporters last month. When Gerard offered the skins of two young female tigers for £6,000, he altered official Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) certificates.
He added his name to the certificates, to reassure would-be buyers that he was entitled to sell them. Gerard had bought them from a Belgian safari park, Monde Sauvage.
A Cites document for one of the tigers states that it was actually sold to Gerard when it was still alive, although he insisted yesterday that the animal was dead when he received it. He said he had not examined its certificate properly and therefore did not notice the discrepancy.
The true fate of that tiger is unclear, however. Joseph Renson, the director of Monde Sauvage, at first said the 18-month-old animal had died of old age. He later claimed it had died of natural causes.
The International Species Information System database records that it was “euthanased” in February 2007. Yet in April, Monde Sauvage was issued with the Cites permit stating that it was still alive.
The footage of tigers being shot, which was filmed in 1994 by German television, did not show Gerard’s face or use his name.
But last night he admitted being present when the animals were shot at an address near Antwerp. He described the botched killings as a “catastrophe” that had upset him. Gerard said “a friend” had shot the zoo tigers. The taxidermist admitted he had skinned them but insisted he had been “set up” by the German journalists.
“I thought the tigers were going to be dead already when they were delivered,” he said. Gerard added that he had believed he was going to be given one of the pelts in return for skinning both tigers.
Following the shooting, Gerard admitted on camera that he had shot them himself, but he retracted this in speaking to The Sunday Times, saying that he had been pressured into confessing. “I have never killed any animal for my business,” he said.
However, the producer of the programme, Stefan Eckart, insisted Gerard had indeed shot the tigers himself.
Questions have also been raised about Gerard’s inadvertent role in the fate of a chimpanzee bearing the name of one of the most popular and high-profile residents of a British zoo.
Documents show that Gerard received a chimpanzee with the details of “Rodney”, a long-standing resident of Windsor Safari Park, and offered its skin and skeleton for sale in 2002.
In fact the animal was probably caught in Africa and given Rodney’s details in order to make its purchase appear legal.
The real Rodney lived out his later life at the Monkey World primate rescue centre in Dorset, where he was a featured chimp in the long-running television series Monkey Business. He died in 2005 at the age of 37.
Alison Cronin, who runs Monkey World, said: “This is exactly how wild animals are smuggled, by using the real details of existing captive animals to get them ‘into the system’. It is absolutely appalling that any chimpanzee has ended its days as a trophy for someone who wants a stuffed animal. It shows how low some people can sink.”
Additional reporting: Nicola Smith
Lingering death of two caged animals killed so that they could be skinned and stuffed
By Daniel Foggo
See the videos: 1. Zoo tigers are shot for their skins. It is unclear whether they are being killed by Jean-Pierre Gerard, a Belgian taxidermist, or by one of his associates. Warning: shows prolonged sequences of animals suffering
2. One of the shot tigers is skinned by Gerard
A TAXIDERMIST exposed for buying healthy exotic animals from zoos in order to stuff them has been filmed taking part in the brutal slaughter of two caged tigers for their skins.
Jean-Pierre Gerard, who last month offered undercover Sunday Times reporters the pelts of young zoo tigers for £3,000 each, was present while two further specimens from a German zoo were peppered with bullets.
Video footage shows the animals suffering a lingering death as they were repeatedly and inexpertly shot over more than 20 minutes. Afterwards Gerard is shown skinning the animals with a view to their being stuffed. He also confessed on camera to having shot the animals himself, although he subsequently insisted to The Sunday Times that his “friend”, who he would not identify, had actually pulled the trigger.
Gerard has fuelled his lucrative taxidermy business buying surplus animals from zoos across Europe. The footage now suggests that he has also been involved in the death of unwanted zoo animals as well as stuffing them.
Rare captive species are routinely being overbred by zoos, which use cubs to attract visitors in the peak summer season. Later in the year “excess” animals are killed and their skins sold to Gerard for no other reason than the fact that the zoos no longer have any room for them.
Belgian police said this weekend they would like to view the footage and Bart Staes, a Belgian MEP, said he would table questions in the European parliament this week.
The video raises new questions over the provenance of the tiger skins offered for sale to undercover reporters last month. When Gerard offered the skins of two young female tigers for £6,000, he altered official Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) certificates.
He added his name to the certificates, to reassure would-be buyers that he was entitled to sell them. Gerard had bought them from a Belgian safari park, Monde Sauvage.
A Cites document for one of the tigers states that it was actually sold to Gerard when it was still alive, although he insisted yesterday that the animal was dead when he received it. He said he had not examined its certificate properly and therefore did not notice the discrepancy.
The true fate of that tiger is unclear, however. Joseph Renson, the director of Monde Sauvage, at first said the 18-month-old animal had died of old age. He later claimed it had died of natural causes.
The International Species Information System database records that it was “euthanased” in February 2007. Yet in April, Monde Sauvage was issued with the Cites permit stating that it was still alive.
The footage of tigers being shot, which was filmed in 1994 by German television, did not show Gerard’s face or use his name.
But last night he admitted being present when the animals were shot at an address near Antwerp. He described the botched killings as a “catastrophe” that had upset him. Gerard said “a friend” had shot the zoo tigers. The taxidermist admitted he had skinned them but insisted he had been “set up” by the German journalists.
“I thought the tigers were going to be dead already when they were delivered,” he said. Gerard added that he had believed he was going to be given one of the pelts in return for skinning both tigers.
Following the shooting, Gerard admitted on camera that he had shot them himself, but he retracted this in speaking to The Sunday Times, saying that he had been pressured into confessing. “I have never killed any animal for my business,” he said.
However, the producer of the programme, Stefan Eckart, insisted Gerard had indeed shot the tigers himself.
Questions have also been raised about Gerard’s inadvertent role in the fate of a chimpanzee bearing the name of one of the most popular and high-profile residents of a British zoo.
Documents show that Gerard received a chimpanzee with the details of “Rodney”, a long-standing resident of Windsor Safari Park, and offered its skin and skeleton for sale in 2002.
In fact the animal was probably caught in Africa and given Rodney’s details in order to make its purchase appear legal.
The real Rodney lived out his later life at the Monkey World primate rescue centre in Dorset, where he was a featured chimp in the long-running television series Monkey Business. He died in 2005 at the age of 37.
Alison Cronin, who runs Monkey World, said: “This is exactly how wild animals are smuggled, by using the real details of existing captive animals to get them ‘into the system’. It is absolutely appalling that any chimpanzee has ended its days as a trophy for someone who wants a stuffed animal. It shows how low some people can sink.”
Additional reporting: Nicola Smith
Wednesday 9 May 2007
An Open Letter to Bal Thackeray
Dear Mr. Thackeray,The Tiger is dying.
In a few years time, the symbol of your party will be a mere memory. All that will be remaining are pictures, documentaries and a fading emblem on the Shiv Sena's posters.
I'm writing to you today to ask you to prevent this from happening.
Your followers have always held your words in very high esteem. Every call for action has been followed promptly by the hundreds of people who feel inspired by you. I am not one of them, but I believe that your words, a call for action from you, is needed at this time.
I believe that you can inspire your people to go out and prevent the destruction of your party's symbol. Ask them to talk to people in the forest ministry, patrol our so called wildlife 'sanctuaries' and national parks (have you been to the Borivali national park? It's a disgrace.)
I hope you will think about this seriously, Mr. Thackeray. Time is running out for the tiger. Please help.
Yours sincerely,
One word from you, one statement on the state of the tigers in India today and your followers will ensure that the situation is reversed. Given the Shiv Sena's history and the way that your words are listened to, I know that this will be an effective solution.
I believe that you can inspire your people to go out and prevent the destruction of your party's symbol. Ask them to talk to people in the forest ministry, patrol our so called wildlife 'sanctuaries' and national parks (have you been to the Borivali national park? It's a disgrace.)This is a legacy that you can leave that will endear you to people all over, not just in your party. Leave something precious for us to remember you by. If you want to keep the Shiv Sena going well into the next 21st century, then what better way than to protect its symbol.
I hope you will think about this seriously, Mr. Thackeray. Time is running out for the tiger. Please help.
Yours sincerely,
A concerned Mumbaiwallah (or Mumbaikar, if that's what you prefer)
Saturday 28 April 2007
News Reports
An interview with Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India
There is more concern for the tiger outside India
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/27belinda.htm
Related article : End of the Road for the Indian Tiger
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/25valmik.htm
There is more concern for the tiger outside India
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/27belinda.htm
Related article : End of the Road for the Indian Tiger
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/25valmik.htm
Thursday 26 April 2007
Call to Action -1
Upload your picture and be a part of Save the Tiger Fund's Tiger Mosaic.
Once you've done that, take a moment and complete a letter to the Chinese government. Not sure what effect it will have, but what have we got to lose?
Saturday 21 April 2007
Tiger Meat sold at Chinese Zoo
This is what prompted us to take action.
A story on ITV news yesterday exposed a Chinese animal park which reared tigers and then put them on the menu. It was a deeply disturbing news item right down to the reaction of the angry owner who ended up throwing things at the camera when he was tracked down to a conference in Nepal.
Read the full story here.
A story on ITV news yesterday exposed a Chinese animal park which reared tigers and then put them on the menu. It was a deeply disturbing news item right down to the reaction of the angry owner who ended up throwing things at the camera when he was tracked down to a conference in Nepal.
Read the full story here.
Here today, Gone tomorrow
Less than a hundred years ago, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today, numbers are down to less than 2500 mature breeding animals.
My first experience of being distressed at the losing battle was my recent trip to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (or Borivili National Park) in Mumbai. The big cats there were in a pitiful condition (more on them in a future post) and left both of us pretty upset after the 'safari' (where the cages were pelted with stones by the 'tour guide' to get the tigers and lions to come out for our benefit).
We've then become acutely aware of the situation with each passing day. It's as if our eyes (mine, certainly) have been forcibly opened wide and we can no longer pretend that it's not bothering us.
After months of debating on what we can do about the situation, this is then where we've begun. This blog is the first step in creating awareness about the desperate situation. We'll put up links to other groups and websites, ongoing projects, petitions and campaigns and post contact details in case you want to take up the cause as well.
My first experience of being distressed at the losing battle was my recent trip to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (or Borivili National Park) in Mumbai. The big cats there were in a pitiful condition (more on them in a future post) and left both of us pretty upset after the 'safari' (where the cages were pelted with stones by the 'tour guide' to get the tigers and lions to come out for our benefit).
We've then become acutely aware of the situation with each passing day. It's as if our eyes (mine, certainly) have been forcibly opened wide and we can no longer pretend that it's not bothering us.
After months of debating on what we can do about the situation, this is then where we've begun. This blog is the first step in creating awareness about the desperate situation. We'll put up links to other groups and websites, ongoing projects, petitions and campaigns and post contact details in case you want to take up the cause as well.
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