A real victory for tigers

In a key win in the battle to save wild tigers, The CITES convention on endangered species  rejected a lifting of the 14-year ban on domestic trade in tiger parts in China.

“The international community has sent a clear message that the world cannot sacrifice the last wild tigers for the sake of a handful of wealthy tiger farm investors.”

The International Tiger Coalition said it commended delegates from four countries with wild tigers – India, Nepal, Bhutan and Russia – and the United States in standing firm on behalf of wild tiger conservation during a lengthy debate. The decision was adopted by consensus, but not before China tried to soften the language.

Privately run “tiger farms” across China have bred nearly 5,000 captive tigers and are putting enormous pressure on the Chinese government to allow legal trade in tiger parts within China. They argue that their captive tigers will meet the demand of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) users for tiger-bone tonic wines and medicines.

“A lift of the ban would simply lead to an increase of demand for tiger parts and the ‘laundering’ of skins and parts from poached wild tigers.

“India and Nepal in particular have been heroic and spoken up strongly and passionately in defence of tigers and should be commended for their stance.”

Source: From a report by the EIA The Environmental Investigation Agency
http://www.eia-international.org/

Watch these films on Discovery channel on 20^th July 2007

Wildlife crime- UK Environment Film Fellowships 2006

 Once there was a purple butterfly-Sonya V. Kapoor

Sonya says that of the 1,500 species of butterflies in India, 400 are on the verge of extinction; this was reason enough to track down butterfly poachers—entire villages in Kerala—where they catch and supply rare species to traders from south-east Asia.

Leopards in the Lurch— Gurmeet Sapal

The film shows that most of the leopards/cheetahs that are killed in the Himachal are not just by poachers but by locals - on the pretext that they are man-eaters.

However, Sapal says, forensic evidence shows that several of those killed in the Garhwal forests were innocent.

The Hunted - Jay Mazoomdar   

“If the extinction of tigers is be tackled effectively, the traditional hunter is to be shown an alternative livelihood.”

Jay’s film shows the Moghiya hunters of MP and Rajasthan who hunt tigers for larger traders for measly sums. “It would be difficult for this trade to flourish in the absence of skilled hunters,” he adds.

Vanishing Seas-Himanshu Malhotra

For husband-wife duo, Himanshu Malhotra and Sabina Kidwai, the endangered marine coral reefs in Lakshwadeep and Andaman spell the death of an entire eco-system.

Turtles in a Soup-Kalpana Subramanian

Freshwater turtles in the Gangetic river systems and their systematic poaching led Kalpana Subramanian to make her film Turtles in a Soup. The trade, she says, has moved on from simply shipping turtle meat to actually processing the more easily transportable ‘plastron’ (turtle cartilage) into chips thus making it more “invisible and difficult to nab”.

The Last Dance- Ashima Narain

Under the law, the Indian sloth bear is entitled to the same protection as the tiger.  Yet crimes against it are committed openly across India as bears are made to dance for our entertainment.  By venturing on an undercover anti-poaching operation and witnessing the surrender of a dancing bear, the film shows how this crime can be brought to an end.

The Silenced Witness-P.Balan and R.Radha

“The Silenced Witness” analyses why despite having about 60 per cent of the world population of Asiatic and despite the animal being revered for centuries, the magnificent mammal is fighting for survival.

The story centres around crimes committed on Elephants in Kerala - both domesticated and wild.

Lion claws are cult symbols in and around Saurashtra.  There is a belief system built around them.  Fishermen wear them before venturing out to sea, apparently to make them "lion -hearted". 

The forest department destroys all the claws collected from the carcasses of dead lions so there is no official route of getting these talismans.  Forest officials do not believe locals in Saurashtra would be hunting lions for their claws and claim that mos of the claws are fake.

The Kathi Darbar Community wear them as status symbols.  Sold at prices rising up to Rs 25,000 per claw, they are flaunted in pendants worn on bare chests. 

Conservator of Forests, Junagadh has powers to apprehend those wearing lion claws. But there is no information of anyone having been booked so far, over the years.

source: Times of India, 13 April, 2007

Kaziranga National Park is a clear case where hard work of the forest staff went unrewarded and unnoticed while the Park had the distinction of protecting a healthy population of rhinos.

The recent poaching of six rhinos has brought to light some glaring lapses. ’Seven or eight years ago when the Park was spread over 430 sq.km, it had a sanctioned staff strength of 487’. After the addition of six new portions, the Park area is is now over 1,000 sq.km. The team strength-376.

International gangs with links to China and the Middle East( rhino horn sheaths are poular there) operate in Kaziranga. Whie the police have arrested 700 poachers since 1975, only one has been convicted so far.

Source: The Indian Express 19 April 2007

Selling the Tiger to Save it?

"Enforcement of wildlife laws in China is lax, one of the main reasons that smuggling is so rampant and this laxity will extend to the tiger farms rendering any system of monitoring ineffetive.  In the event of the lifting of the ban on trading in tiger parts, laundering of wild animals through legal channels will thus be the more than likely outcome."

Dr. Xu Hongfa, China Director of TRAFFIC  agreed with Indian wildlife experts that farmed tigers will always be more expensive than poached ones, doing little to dampen the profitability of poaching.

What the Chinese government really needs to be focussing on is habitat conservation, Dr.u says.  He blames the dramatic depletion of China’s tigers on an equally dramatic loss of habitat for the animals as a result of deforestation and expansion of large- scale agriculture. Until some of its natural environment is brought back, no amount of breeding will save the wild tiger, he concludes.
 
Source: The Hindu dated 21/02/07

Poachers in Panna targeted the wildlife to celebrate the new year and killed dozens of animals. Most hit were the bucks. It is learnt, in Umaria beat an incident of killing of bucks came into light after publishing the news in Central Chronicle newspaper.

Three youths of Khajuri village killed buck in jungle and distributed its meat among themselves and celebrated with family members. The forest officials raided Khajuri village and found three youths indulging in hunting. The accused accepted their crime. The forest officials then took the three youths, residents of Khajuri in jungles where they found hides of bucks hid near a tree. The officials then recovered the hides.

The forest officials recovered two axes and hoof of buck. The accused have been arrested under sections 691/12 dated 3/1/07 and sent to the court on remand.

SOURCE : Central Chronicle, Saturday, January 6, 2007

The Delhi Wildlife Department rescued seven owls belonging to the species" Indian Horned Owl", in Old Delhi. 

The seizure has brought to light a racket run in the name of black-magic. 

According to wildlife experts, the owls are not captured for their meat but to perform rituals.  The claws of the bird are thought to attract good fortune while feathers are used to ward off evil spirits.  Tantriks cash upon mythology where owl is considered the vehicle of goddess Lakshmi. 

Source: The Indian Express dated 8th Dec, 2006

Dener Giovanini (Brazil) has designed a citizen-based network to fight the third largest illegal business in the world, animal trafficking. He incorporates Internet communications into a start-to-finish system that saves animals' lives, brings criminals to justice, and provides new employment opportunities to rural traffickers.

Dener Giovanini has created the National Network Combatting Wild Animal Trafficking (A Rede Nacional de Combate ao Tráfico de Animais Silvestres), or RENCTAS, to curb and ultimately stop animal trafficking in Brazil by addressing the problem at all levels and including all relevant actors. Perhaps the most distinctive aspects of Dener's work are the focus on training programs for those low-income individuals who make a living by producing the animals for the phenomenally lucrative trade, and the degree to which he creates partnerships among people who would not ordinarily be in contact with each other. To that end, RENCTAS effectively links individuals and organizations to solve all aspects of the problem together: animal protection groups and veterinarians are linked to government officials who have seized the animals from the traffickers; individuals and organizations who want to report trafficking are linked to the government's environmental agency and the Public Prosecutor's Department.

Dener's comprehensive approach includes: 1) an urgent response and care system for the animals who are seized by government officials; 2) training programs to provide alternative employment to those involved in animal trafficking; 3) a reporting system for those who want to report instances of trafficking; 4) training of police officers and customs agents in how to deal with animals that are seized; 5) efforts to improve and enforce environmental laws to provide greater protection for animals vulnerable to trafficking; and 6) a campaign to educate the public about the damage animal trafficking will cause to the environment, and to raise awareness among consumers in an effort to eliminate the market for trafficked animals.

 Ashoka Fellow Dener Giovanini has built a 60,000 person movement served by a powerful Internet investigative and tracking capacity that has thrown Brazil's $3 billion hugely destructive and unforgiving trade in wild animals (90 percent die en route) onto the defensive.

http://www.ashoka.org/node/3272

The visit of a Chinese delegation to Delhi to re-look an MOU signed in 1995  with India, is worrying news for wildlife lovers. Rather than curbing use of tiger parts in medicine,  China has been insisting on going ahead with using farm-bred tiger products for its traditional medicine. 

The Principal focus of the MOU is in three areas:

1. Vigilance across the borders-instituting a mechanism to curb smuggling of tiger parts
2. Capacity building-eg, standardising release of captive bred tigers in the wild.
3. Seggregation of farm and wild products

( Source The Indian Express Nov 3, 2006)