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PRESENTATION(PowerPoint) & VIDEO(44mb Real Media 10)

New Delhi: India joins seven other countries, notable among these, USA, UK, China and Russia, to collectively launch a Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking on the International Tiger Day tomorrow in an attempt to focus on the increasing threat to the survival of this majestic species.

Wildlife Trust of India and its partner the International Fund for Animal Welfare share the urgency to protect this apex predator and enforce the law to help curb poaching. The campaign is urgently needed as three of the nine tiger subspecies became extinct in the past 40 years.  Another, the Sumatran tiger, may be gone by 2020.

Tiger populations have dropped from 100,000 to around 5000 in two centuries. India is among the 14 Asian countries with tiger populations and one of the two with a population of more than 500 tigers. Between 1994 and 2003, 684 tigers have been known to be killed in India and even today some buyers are willing to pay $10,000 for a tiger pelt in China.

WTI and IFAW raise the curtain to the chain of events spread over five days in eight countries by unveiling footage and stills that show the increasing use of tiger and leopard skins in traditional costumes in some parts of the world as signs of affluence

The survival of this apex predator is crucial to measure the health of the entire ecosystem. The tiger and the leopard are being hunted mercilessly in Indian jungles in mind-boggling numbers. The last 60 days have recorded 21 tiger and leopard parts seizures in India and two major seizures in Nepal with links to India. Seizures of tiger and leopard parts are now running almost at the rate of one every alternate day. It has never been this bad ever. Sariska is bereft of tigers and there are many more Sariskas in making. Namdhapa and Buxa are almost cleaned out. Others have shown sharp declines. Three seizures in July 2005 in quick succession in Periyar have shaken what was said to be a shining example of tribals protecting tigers. Many tiger reserves are likely to have half or less than half the official figure of tiger numbers. United States has estimated that tiger numbers in India may be between 1200 and 1500.

Possibly the tiger numbers are today less than the 1827 figure at the launch of Project Tiger in 1973. The Ministry of Environment and Forests denies this. Privately most agree that tiger numbers have been inflated from year to year.

Where are the tigers and leopards going? Surely wildlife traders like Sansar Chand do not decorate their homes with these skins. They sell them, and it has been known that they sell these to Tibetans who smuggle them to Tibet via Nepal and other trade routes. It was also suspected that from Tibet, mainly Lhasa these were sent to other parts of China and the Far East and also to West. Tiger and leopard skins have been recorded by many travelers to be easily available in Lhasa shops and back lanes. But was that trade large enough to wipe out entire populations from the wild?

The answer is there at last, supported by video footage and stills. The traditional Tibetan garment chuba which could be owned earlier by just a few families is now accessible to many to be worn on festive occasions and even sports events. The newly found purchasing power in Tibet stems from western tourists, smuggling of shahtoosh raw wool to India, but interestingly also from the trade in caterpillar mushroomCordyceps sinensis, the price of which is Rs.50,000 ($1000) per kg at the collection point in India.

No wonder, the diary of Aakash, son of Sansar Chand records one year transactions of 40 tiger skins, 652 leopards skins and 32 otters valued at Rupees 1.38 crores ($350,000). This also confirms Delhi to be the wildlife super market of India. The diary was seized by the Jaipur police last year.

On the eve of International Tiger Day, IFAW in India, Russia and China has joined forces with Save the Tiger Fund’s Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking (CATT). An organized crime like poaching and cross-border smuggling in wildlife derivatives requires joint international efforts to stop poaching and smuggling and raise awareness among consumers that the fate of tigers rests in their hands.

Together, we aim to build, inform and support alliances of conservationists, governments, traditional medicine users and religious groups to stop trade in tiger parts and the criminals who are robbing the world of its last wild tigers and destroying their priceless forest habitats.

Photo Credit: WTI Photo Stock