Big Cats Naked Planet magazine

NakedPlanetissue

EIASave China Tiger

1.

Profiles:

01 / 2008

BigCats

environmental magazine

WWF

Contents:

910121415

WWF work........................................................................................

Tiger Ecology............................................................................

WWF and Tiger Conservation..............................................

WWF in action..........................................................................

Conservation Science.............................................................

Publisher, Editor and Art Director Natasha Abramovich www.purrfect-designs.com

Special thanksIngvild Holm (EIA), Save China Tigers, Akvilina Valaytite, Jonny Hardstaff, Simon Downs, Phil Sawdon, Anchor Print

Contents:

Contents:

EIA 1718212529

Species in peril.........................................................................

Tiger Campaign objectives...................................................

A glimmer of hope for tigers.................................................

Victory on tiger farm factory.................................................

Ways to help..............................................................................

News 32China’s new film......................................................................

Save China Tigers 3947

Report by Ms.Li Quan............................................................

Tiger’s home..............................................................................

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Recognized throughout the world for its ferocity and unmistakable beauty, the tiger faces an uncertain future. Due to increases in both natural and human threats, the wild tiger population suffered major losses during the 20th century and has become one of our most endan-gered species. By the 1950s, tigers living around the Caspian Sea were extinct; between 1937 and 1972 the population of tigers that once in-habited the islands of Bali and Java disappeared; the South China tiger has not been seen in the wild for more than 25 years, and is possibly extinct.

WWFwork

India today has the largest number of tigers, numbering some-where between 2,500 and 3,750. However, the Indian government is expected to release new numbers in the coming year. Worldwide it is estimated only 5,000 to 7,000 indi-vidual tigers now remain in the wild. These remaining tigers are threat-ened by many factors, including growing human populations, loss of habitat, illegal hunting of tigers and their prey, and expanded trade in tiger parts used for traditional medicines.

WWF and its conservation part-ners are working to combat these threats and save the tiger. Together, we can ensure that we leave our children a planet where tigers still roam wild.

Issue 1 | NakedPlanet | 9

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Tiger Ecology

Physical CharacteristicsThe largest of all cats, the tiger is one of the biggest and most fearsome

predators in the world. Weighing up to 500 pounds and measuring more than nine feet from nose to the tip of the tail, tigers can travel long

distances and bound up to 30 feet in one leap.

Tigers are distinctively camouflaged with their gold coloring and black stripes. Their fierce retractile claws and powerful bodies put tigers at

the top of the food chain - they eat just about anything and nothing eats them.

DietTigers prefer to eat ungulates, or hoofed animals (such as wild deer and wild pigs), but have been known to eat fish, birds, and even other pred-ators like leopards and bears. Tigers are able to eat up to 80 pounds of

meat in one sitting. Hunting, however, can be difficult for tigers - they are successful in only one or two attacks out of every 20.

HabitatTigers are solitary animals and usually come together only to mate.

Occasionally, however, small groups of related adults may associate. Mating can occur at any time and typically produces litters with two or

three cubs. Cubs stay with their mother for about two years, as early life is dangerous. One half of all cubs born don’t survive to their third year.

Living fairly secretive lives, the remaining tigers can be found across the continent of Asia in variety of environments including forests, grass-

lands and swamps. Tigers seem to thrive in areas of dense vegetation with numerous sources of water and large populations of ungulate prey.

Threats and StatusThe tiger population is thought to have fallen by about 95 percent since

the beginning of the 20th century. These remaining tigers are threatened by many factors, including growing human populations, loss of habitat,

illegal hunting (of both tigers and their prey species), and expanded trade in tiger parts used as traditional medicines for treatment of condi-

tions such as arthritis and rheumatism.

Only 5,000 to 7,000 individual tigers remain in the wild. Although it is one the most magnificent and revered animals, the tiger is listed as “en-

dangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is also listed on CITES Appendix I, which makes trading of live cats or cat parts (i.e.,

fur, bones and meat) illegal in signatory countries.


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In the past 100 years, the number of tigers has been re-duced by 95 percent. We entered the 21st century with

tigers already extinct in a number of their historic range countries and the remaining tigers on the verge of meet-

ing the same fate. Across their range, these magnificent animals are being poisoned, electrocuted, snared, shot

and even captured as cubs - the majority to meet the demands of the illegal wildlife trade.

Since its founding in 1961, WWF has rallied significant support for tiger conservation. In devising its landscape approach, WWF worked with international tiger experts

from IUCN, the Smithsonian Institution, Zoological So-ciety of London and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Tigers are the top predator over some of the world’s most diverse remaining forests, and successful tiger

conservation will not only benefit the animal itself, but also the many thousands of other species that live with

it, including humans. Although tigers face formidable odds, there is hope for this adaptable, vigorous species.

WWFTiger Conservation

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WWFin action

The word that best describes WWF and its wildlife conservation mission is ‘action.’ Our wildlife conserva-

tion mission is illustrated as much by our victories in the corridors of government as it is by the results we

achieve through our on-the-ground, ‘muddy boots’ ac-tivities in wildlife animal conservation corridors around

the world.

Along with our global reach and history of getting things done, what makes WWF so effective is the foundation

of sound and innovative science upon which all of our work is based. WWF’s Conservation Science Program is

responsible for such groundbreaking concepts as ecore-gional conservation of wildlife and the Global 200—both

of which have developed a framework through which we will approach the next generation of conservation of

wildlife activities.

While our endangered wildlife projects and expertise in the arenas of government and science are critical to advancing our wildlife animal conservation goals,

WWF also recognizes that perhaps our most important responsibility is the education of future leaders in the field. Our education program provides fun, interactive

activities as well as the engaging classroom material on which they are based.

Read about some of our recent successes and learn more about a sampling of our endangered wildlife proj-

ects. As a force for nature in the field, in classrooms and in capitols, WWF is In Action around the world, ensuring

a bright future for our living planet.


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Effective conservation requires a solid scientific foun-dation. The Conservation Science Program (CSP) was founded in 1990 to strengthen this foundation within WWF. Our mission is to advance biodiversity conserva-tion worldwide through the development and application of innovative scientific principles, tools and information.

Fuller FellowshipsLearn about the Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature FundWe work to fulfill this mission by providing scientific ex-pertise to WWF field programs in the design and imple-mentation of conservation projects, and by conducting targeted research on biodiversity and the factors that threaten it.

Our work addresses issues in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater realms, and takes place on global, conti-nental, ecoregional, and local scales. We often employ technologies such as geographic information systems, decision-support algorithms, and hydrologic model-ing, and we work to disseminate the skills and capacity needed to use these tools to field programs and partner organizations.

Collaborations with other WWF programs are central to our mission, as is our worldwide network of scien-tific partners in universities, NGOs, and government agencies. We communicate our results and ideas both through direct interaction with field programs and more widely through popular and scientific publications.

CSP has been central in developing many of the core components of WWF’s conservation approach, including the Global 200 and Ecoregion Conservation. And CSP is actively pursuing the next generation of innovations designed to keep WWF in the forefront of science-based conservation.

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enviromentalinvestigation

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Species in peril

The EIA was established in 1984 to investigate, expose and campaign against the illegal trade in wildlife and the destruction of our natural environment. Working undercover to expose international environmental crime -such as the illegal trade in wildlife, illegal logging and trade in timber species, and the world-wide trade in ozone depleting substances - EIA has directly brought about changes in international laws and the policies of governments, saving the lives of millions of rare and en-dangered animals and putting a stop to the devastating effects of environmental criminals.

EIA is a small organisation which relies on donations from the public, the support of our members, the efforts of volunteer fund-raisers and the support of charitable

foundations. Yet our efforts have saved the lives of mil-lions of animals. EIA’s focused and hard-hitting cam-paigns have made it one of the most successful conser-vation groups in the world..

Although ambitious, our campaigns and projects have defined and achievable goals to gain greater protection for wildlife and the environment. Our track re-cord of undercover work, scientific documentation and representation at international conventions has earned EIA a world-wide reputation for highly effective and successful campaigning. We also continue to share these skills with local groups and government officials to help power them in the fight against environmental crime.

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EIA

High Value Donor event at the Mall Galleries, London, 2 October 2007. Tiger belonging to Wildlife crime unit, Metro-politan Police.


To investigate, expose and campaign for greater ac-tion against the international illegal trade in tiger skins, bones and derivatives

To improve tiger conservation in India, by maintaining international pressure on the government to take action to save wild tigers

Our campaign delivers the hard-hitting truth about those who have failed to act and those that are ulti-mately responsible for sealing the fate of the world’s remaining tigers. Our exposés arm those, both inside and outside of government, with the information to con-tinue the battle for the tiger; to focus efforts and bring about much-needed changes in the implementation and enforcement of wildlife laws.

EIA’s Tiger Campaign objectives are :

company profile: eia

Fantastic fake. Nagchu market. Banks. 08/05



EIA WPSI briefing provides an update following a recent visit to the Litang Horse Festival in Sichuan, in August 2007. Not a single person was seen wearing genuine tiger, leopard and otter skin this year. The stagger-ing contrast to the scenes of 2005 is largely due to localised and targeted awareness campaigns.

EIA WPSI BRIEFING: USE AND AVAILABILITY OF ASIAN BIG CAT SKINS, 2007

Tiger cubs.


Not a single person was seen wear-ing genuine tiger, leopard or otter skin at the 2007 Litang Horse Festi-val in Sichuan, China. This remark-able contrast to the scenes of 2005, when we witnessed hundreds of people wearing the skins of endan-gered species, is largely due to the success of local and international awareness campaigns.

EIA investigators talked to festival attendees and shop owners in the town of Litang, where locals stressed that it is no longer fashion-able or politically correct to wear or sell tiger or leopard skins, and that these animals are protected.

This long-lasting and profound change in consumer attitude was

Special Announcement: 03 September 2007

A Glimmer of hope for tigers and other asian big cats.

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also documented by EIA and WPSI in Lhasa in February 2007. The progress may well be localised, but with a continued decline in what was the primary market for tiger, leopard and otter skins, there is room for hope.

What we still need to see is greater investment and commitment from the government to introduce the right kind of enforcement, aimed at disrupting the criminal networks that are still engaged in trafficking skins. Unless the individuals who control the trade are stopped, they will simply switch to other more diffuse markets for skin, such as the market for home décor and trophies.



Above:Tiger thinking

Previous pages:One of the tigers in the tiger attraction.


For further details, please go to the Reports and Briefings Section of the

EIA Tiger Campaign page http://www.eia-international.org/cgi/reports/re-

ports.cgi?t=template&a=151

Governments gathered from across the world have united in a call to end controversial tiger ‘farms’. And in a key win in the battle to save wild tigers, The CITES convention on endangered species also rejected a lifting of the 14-year ban on domestic trade in tiger parts in China.

“This was a major victory for wild tigers, which could be quickly wiped out by poaching if there is a legal market anywhere,” said Uttara Mendiratta of Wildlife Protection Society of India, on behalf of the 35 member organizations of the International Tiger Coalition. The international com-munity 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.”

Victory in tiger farm

fight

The International Tiger Coalition said it commended delegates from four countries with wild tigers – India, Ne-pal, 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 cap-tive tigers and are putting enormous pressure on the Chi-nese 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.

EIA’s Senior Tiger Campaigner Debbie Banks said from The Hague today: “This is a real victory for tigers. It gives a very clear signal from the international community that it is opposed to the farming of tigers.

“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 par-ticular have been heroic and spoken up strongly and pas-sionately in defence of tigers and should be commended for their stance.”

All international trade in tiger parts is banned by CITES, and China has banned domestic trade since 1993. The ban has proven successful in reducing demand for tiger bone and raising public awareness about tiger conserva-tion, studies have found.

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There are around 5,000 tigers left in the world and India is home to 60% of this remaining population - but it is estimated that one is killed there every day. Since 1996, EIA has been campaigning to force the Indian government to crack down on poaching, trade and habitat destruction. EIA has conducted undercover investigations in consumer countries across Asia, Europe and the USA, to expose the thriving, international illegal trade in tiger products.

Saving the wild tiger is not just about saving a species. It is about securing a long-term future for tigers, the forests they live in and the people who depend on those forests for their survival. It is about good governance and overcoming corruption. If we can’t save the wild tiger, what can we save?

Today, the world’s remaining wild tigers continue to face threats from the international illegal trade in their body parts and the decline in the tiger’s habitat and prey base. At the heart of these issues lies the major factor that has prevented the wide scale reversal in the decline of the world’s tiger population – the lack of political will. At local, national and international levels apathy and inertia have meant that expert recommendations and initiatives are left to stagnate, relegating the tiger to the political wilderness.


Close-up detail of a tiger skull, Pench National

Park, India.

Tiger skin costumes at Litang Horse Festival in Sichuan Province of China, August 2005.


• Build a Tiger Online!Upload your photo and help stop the tiger trade.• Say ‘No’ to Tiger FarmingChina is currently attempting to lift the successful ban and legalise the buying and selling of tiger body parts for traditional medicines from farmed tigers. If you would like to take action against this potentially devastating threat to wild tigers please write to the Chinese Ambassador.• Skinning The Cat: Crime and Politics of the Big Cat

Skin TradeIf you have read our new tiger report, seen the news and want to voice your concern, send a letter……• Write to the Chinese Ambassador in London to

express support for Tibetan animal skin burningTibetan people are making a valuable contribution to tiger conservation by burning their skin decorated costumes. EIA needs your help in supporting this bold initiative.• Call for a Wildlife Crime Bureau in India• Write to President Hu Jintao of ChinaAdd your voice to help EIA urge the Chinese Government to take action against the smugglers and traders of tiger and leopard skins• Letter Writing Campaign

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Many ways in which an individual can help :

“ The EIA team is an example of a new, tougher strain of conservationist.

driven to perform daring deeds by man’s exploitation of animals”

The Financial Times


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The information film was made by 35 conservation organisations ahead of the world’s largest wildlife trade meeting next week.

One of the UK’s leading actors, Martin Jarvis, lent his voice to the film, which details the consequences that reopening legal trade would have on wild tigers. It is hoped the film will be broadcast on television networks in many countries. The public service film can be viewed at www.endtigertrade.org.

Investors in massive, captive tiger breeding centers in China are currently putting pressure on the Chinese government to lift its successful 14-year-old ban on trade in tiger parts so they can legally sell products like tiger bone wine and tiger meat.

The topic is expected to be discussed next week when officials from 171 nations gather for meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in The Netherlands.

“Closing China’s tiger markets has helped take the pressure off wild tiger populations across Asia,” said Steve Trent of WildAid. “If China lifts its ban, it will make it open Tiger supporters can take action at www.endtigertrade.org

season on tigers in the wild. The crime syndicates that control the black market for tiger parts will use such a legal market to ‘launder’ poached tigers through. By keeping the ban, China will demonstrate its continued commitment and global leadership for tiger conservation.”

To protect the ban, 35 environmental, zoo and animal protection organisations, as well as the traditional Chinese medicine community, have joined together as the International Tiger Coalition. The coalition is calling for an end to trade in tiger parts and products through increased intelligence-led law enforcement and strengthening existing tiger trade bans.

“Next week’s CITES meeting gives world leaders an opportunity to speak up for one of the world’s most endangered and most hunted animals,” said Debbie Banks of the Environmental Investigation Agency. “People around the world who care about tigers must let their governments know that they want them to oppose any resumption of tiger trade anywhere.”


A powerful, short film urging China to keep its ban on the tiger trade has been launched.

All eyes on China in new film

news

All eyes on China in new film


research : Save China Tigers

Founder Ms.Li Quan’s Message

“I am grateful to our ancestors for leaving us the Chinese tiger - the spirit of nature and the wellspring of culture. I pray, thanks to the united efforts of people worldwide, that the roar of the Chinese tiger will be heard echoing in the wilderness for generations to come.”


Save China Tigers

studied literature and business manage-

ment, and did not know much about

conservation, I realized that it is only

viable and sustainable if local people

support it. The way to get local people

supporting conservation is to involve

them and provide them with an oppor-

tunity to have a sustainable livelihood.

Although I was never involved in

wildlife conservation, I was always in

love with the felines, especially tigers. I

told myself: if the Africans had done it,

the Chinese can do it. One day, I would

like to introduce what I saw in Africa

and create our Chinese Tiger Conserva-

tion Model. In particular, when I saw

how a leopard, a lion and a cheetah

had created the whole tourist industry

around her in South Africa, I started

dreaming how a tiger could do the same

in China.

In my dream I see reserves in

China whose developments are based

on principles of Africa’s reserves. It

would combine the unique resources of

wildlife from China using the Chinese

Tiger as the umbrella and draw, with the

unique cultural resources of China, not

present in Africa but abundant in China,

to compete both domestically and in-

ternationally for tourist money. This will

then be funnelled back into the reserve,

community development and other

wildlife conservation projects. Making

moderate use of wildlife resources will

help make conservation sustainable

long term, and the reserve will allow

wildlife, which has up to now been un-

der single species protection programs,

rejoin Nature and co-exist harmoni-

ously in the wild, thereby safeguarding

the entire eco-system.

A few years ago, I travelled in Africa’s

wildlife reserves: in the early morning

or late afternoon sun, jeeps carrying

tourists go in search of wildlife in the

reserves and take rolls and rolls of

photographs of them. The excitement

one gets from such sightings of wildlife

is hard to describe here, and a close

encounter with an animal, especially a

big one such as elephant or a fierce one

such as a lion or leopard is enough to

make you forget about everything else

in the world. The money I spent on such

trips went to pay for the people who

worked in the lodges where I stayed,

with a luxury that only the head of an

African tribe was entitled to in the old

times. The lodges provided jobs for

game guides, cooks, cleaners, manag-

ers, vegetable growers, food suppliers,

trash collectors, and so on, who were

all local Africans. Not to mention how

much I also spent on buying films, post

cards, books, videos and any arts and

crafts in the shape of the graceful feline

form.

This is when I saw how eco-tour-

ism was being used to benefit local

people while helping protect wildlife at

the same time. Because of the tourist

money, jobs were created for locals and

profit was ploughed back into buying

more land for wildlife. Although I had

don’t make me cry

don’t make me cry



Protecting enough habitat - especially grasslands and forests that support a substantial prey base of muntjacs, serow, and wild boar.

Returning captive trained tigers to that habitat.

Educating and engaging local people in ways that will insure that they support the project and even stand to gain from it in certain economic ways.

Maintaining or developing a genetically sound population of captive tigers.

To accomplish this, we need to do

the following:

1.

2.

3.

4.

research : Save China Tigers

Top : Tiger Woods sleeping in

the trough

Bottom :Madonna lying on the

pole shelter

327 meets his fiance through a fence

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hina

Tig

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find me

save me


Cathay and Hope playing



In Africa they used leopards, elephants, lions, as em-blems to promote eco-tourism for the whole ecological chain in their reserves.

In China, imagine what it was like a few thousand years ago, before we took all the best land away from the animals: herds of David’s deer, spotted deer, wild buffalo, birds, red dogs, wolves, leopards, and at the top of it all - the King of Beasts- Tigers!

The intention of this proposed project is to restore habitat and protect the whole ecological chain by using the Chinese tiger as the flagship.

In their wild home the animals live free, without hu-man intervention, fending for themselves. They interact with each other, fighting for food, territory and mating rights. Speed and agility are of the essence – whether the animal is hunting or fleeing. As an observer, it is like watching a show, except the scripts and the plots are different every time.

This proposal will also help solve the problems cur-rently faced by single species protection programs.

In a deer reserve, in order to protect spotted deer, the reserve managers had no choice but to trap the red dholes that preyed on the spotted deer. There were too many red dholes for the deer. In our Chinese Tiger home, however, the tigers will control the dhole’s numbers. All things interact on the planet and they cannot be isolated. A place where wildlife interacts naturally will require less effort on the part of humans in order to function better.

Many of the problems with the conservation of tigers, and other animals, in China, were related to the structure of the nature reserves. So many reserves were set up in the 1990’s, without enough qualified personnel to man-age them, and a lack of an alternative livelihood for the people living in and outside the reserves. It is no wonder that they often do not co-operate with the wildlife pro-tection laws but continue to make a living as they did before – eat the mountain when living in the mountain and eat the water if living by the water.

What is the home of tigers like?


What does it take to build the new home for tigers ?

As we are talking about giving the tigers back their homeland, it is not a simple matter of several acres of land. The range of one tiger in the wild extends from 15 square kilometres to over 100 square kilometres. This depends on prey density – that is, the availability of food that tigers eat. In China, wild boar and deer of all kind are to tigers what rice, grain and pig are for us Chinese. The prey density in China used to be very high – that is why there were still around 100,000 tigers at the begin-ning of 1900.

Therefore, to save the Chinese Tiger, we need to make sure they prosper into a population with enough genetic diversity to ensure adaptability to ecological changes and resistance to disease. When we have at least 100 tigers living in several populations, we can be sure their fate is on the way to being reverted. To support one population, more than 150 to 200 square kilometres of land may be needed. This obviously depends on the density of prey which in turn is a factor of habitat qual-ity, but tigers do need large areas. For example, a tiger population in SE China may not need a very large area if there is plenty of prey species and the habitat is good, but on the other hand they may need larger areas than reported from other studies - it is unknown.

You may say – the tigers need a lot of land! Yes, the tiger is a large carnivore and eats a lot. It does take a lot of land. That is why the Chinese Tiger Conservation Model is proposed. Tourists will pay a lot to see how tigers and other animals live and interact, and the tigers will be making money to support themselves and the people living around them. Tourists will go back again

and again because each time, the experience is different. Each time, the show is different. There is nothing I like to watch more than wildlife and I think many of you will be hooked as well. I am afraid that in the end, China will need more than one or two such reserves to satisfy the demand of our curiosities.

Having said that, it is not enough to just allocate the land to them. It has to be land where it is not too difficult for us to drive a jeep around. Without a vehicle, you can not escape easily from potentially dangerous situations, although it is very exciting. If you have restricted access to many parts of the land because the terrain is too difficult, then your chances of seeing a tiger is remote and you will not come back again. You will also tell you friends not to bother. Even in India, where the density of tiger population is highest in the world, you may still not see a tiger in the reserve even if you go for a week. Even though I can introduce the best game reserve manage-ment in the world from South Africa, who has the most advanced techniques to ensure that tourists can see a leopard in a matter of three days’ stay in a reserve, and this technique would be applied to the Chinese Tigers, you will still have a hard time to see a tiger if you can not access the land in some way or the other.

After the appropriate land is allocated, we will need to restore the land. Like humans, wildlife needs water, grass, trees, and so on. This is a perfect opportunity to restore what was lost or damaged by human activities. Through the restoration process, we are rebuilding our eco-system, which in turn is good for human beings’ existence.

When the land is ready with abundant food and wa-ter, ungulate and bird species can be restored. They will prosper quickly without human disturbance.

When there are enough prey animals, carnivores can be brought into the new home- dholes, bears, leopards, and Chinese tigers.

IUCN is working with experts around the world to identify and save threatened species.

our work by making a donation to support vital conservation projects, including identifying threats to species and taking appropriate action to save them.

to fight the extinction crisis now!

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