Over the last year, we haveseen a host of news eventscataloguing the threatsagainst the wild tiger. Tigernumbers in India havefallen by more than half injust ten years confirmingconservationists’ worstfears that previous "official"figures, of 3,624 wild tigers(2002 census) wereoverstated. The recentannouncement by theIndian governmentconfirms the appallingreduction in tiger numberscurrently stands at 1,411.

Some of the blame for thedecrease in tiger numbers can belaid at the door of rampantpoaching, habitat encroachmentand a high demand in China andTibet for tiger skins and bodyparts. China’s economic boom has

increased the demand for tigerbased remedies on anunprecedented scale. The declineis also driven by depressedreproduction and increasedmortalities caused by over-huntingof the tiger’s prey.

In 2007, China planned to re-opentheir domestic market in trade intiger parts, using farmed tigerswhich now number up to 5,000.This proposed trade also threatenswild tigers. A high-level Chinesedelegation lobbied the Indiangovernment for support in liftingthe ban ahead of a meeting of theConvention on International Tradein Endangered Species (CITES).Supporters of the scheme said thatusing farmed tigers would providea viable long-term source of bodyparts for traditional Chinesemedicine and therefore reducedemand for illegal supplies of tigerwhich come mainly from poachersin India. However an internationalcoalition (see International TigerCoalition piece on page 7), now

numbering 41 of the world'sleading tiger conservation groups,including Global Tiger Patrol,condemned the plans, saying itwould have precisely the oppositeeffect - fuelling demand, increasingpoaching and hastening thedemise of the species. The ban onselling tiger parts is essential if thespecies is to survive. For a fewpounds a tiger can be poached setagainst the cost of rearing a tiger incaptivity estimated at £2,000-5,000.

There are simply too few tigers leftin the wild to risk reopening tradeof any kind from any source. Wedare not risk an entire species forthe short-term financial gain of ahandful of Chinese tiger farmowners and their investors.Chinese officials claim “to save thetiger you have to sell it”. The TigerCoalition’s message to China is:

“END TIGER TRADE:

THE EYES OF THE WORLD ARE

WATCHING”.

Global Tiger Patrol 2008 1

GLOBAL TIGER PATROL

www.globaltigerpatrol.org

Newsletter 2008

Viewfromthe

ChairAmanda BrightChair of Trustees M

ikeVickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

Global Tiger Patrol 20082

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve(NBR), Southern India

The project was to surveythe NBR to see the extentand realities in terms ofconservation, observing itsmanagement, theencroachment problemsand the possibilities forfuture conservation strategy.It is believed that this regionmight be the last bastion ofthe tiger and elephant inIndia in years to come, aswell as it being therepository of some of theworld’s unique and endemicplants, insects, reptiles,birds and other species.

Around 6,000 kilometreswere covered, over a tenmonth period, and overthree seasons. This hasresulted inrecommendations beinggiven to GTP and the otherco-funder of the project,Rainforest Concern,concerning future donationsand the best way forward towork in the area. Theconclusion was that theNBR, together with thecontiguous areas beyondNBR (perhaps as far northas Dandeli National Park onthe border with Goa andsouth to Mudunthurai at thesouthernmost tip of India),is a region undoubtedlyworthy of support.

Tiger Conservation Fellowship, Karnataka

This programme was initiated by the Centre for Wildlife Studies inBangalore in recognition of the fact that localised tigerconservation efforts, spearheaded by motivated individuals, arefrequently much more successful in mobilising ground-levelchanges while being considerably less expensive to undertake.These efforts also focus directly at broadening the local supportbase for tiger conservation with the community. Under thisprogramme GTP has now supported DV Girish for many years, inhis year-round work outside the boundaries of protected areascarried out strictly in compliance with all local and national laws,towards consolidating tiger habitat in and around Bhadra TigerReserve, one of the most important tiger conservation sites inWestern Ghats.

Field Support to Project Lifeline Sundarbans

Support has continued to this worthwhile project working in, onand around the island of Satjelya in the Sundarbans. TheSundarban area situated to the east of here, in Bangladesh, wasthe news in November, when it was hit by cyclone Sidr.

Herewith a report from Project Lifeline Sundarabans, dated 19November 2007:“We were lucky enough that the Cyclone SIDR did not do muchdamage to our part of Sunderban. It has grazed past our border.However, several mud houses collapsed but no casualties werereported. A large number of villagers, specially women andchildren, took shelter in our camp for the night of 15th Novemberand they were properly looked after by our field staff. However, thesituation in adjoining Bangladesh is very serious. The Cyclonelevelled thousands of houses, uprooted trees and forced theevacuation of at least 650,000 people from the coastal areas. It isanticipated that more than 10,000 people have died due to thisCyclone, measured at 240 kms an hour.In the meantime, one tigress entered into our village on 12thNovember late evening hours and took shelter in the paddy field.On the 13th morning when it was detected the villagerssurrounded the field and kept watch on the tigress along with theProject Tiger Officials. They placed a cage and a goat to capturethe cat. While doing all this thing a forest guard, named UttamBiswas, was attacked by the tigress and he is presently admittedin the hospital. However, it did not enter into the cage and left forthe forest on the 14th night by crossing the river, adjoining to ourcamp. This is an unique example of the villagers' effort in savingSunderban tigers. I am certain that the various developmentalactivities of the Government and the field based NGOs like us hashelped changing the attitude of the villagers.” Mrinal Chatterjee

ReportsfromtheField

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

Mike Vickerswww.tigersintheforest.com

Felid Conference

Those of you who have followedthe work of Dr Raghu Chundawatin Panna over the years willappreciate that the type ofresearch work he was followingwas only possible because of theassistance he received from anoutstanding vet, Dr Pradeep Malik.

Dr Malik assisted Dr Chundawatin the tranquilising of tigers andungulates, which then enabled thescientific data to be gathered, fromwhich stemmed Dr Chundawat’svaluable papers.

GTP has contributed to DrChundawat’s funding for manyyears and we were

therefore pleased to support DrMalik in his visit to the UK in theautumn, so that he could presenta paper at the Felid Conference inOxford. It is essential that fundingof projects also results inknowledge acquired during theproject span to be disseminatedout to a wider audience.

Global Tiger Patrol 2008 3

Dr Pradeep Malik writes:

For several years, I was part of a long termstudy on tigers “Ecology of tiger; to enable

realistic projection

of the requirements needed to maintain ademographically viable population of tiger

s in India”. The field

site of this project is Panna National Parkin Central India which encompasses an a

rea of 543 km2. The

terrain is composed of extensive plateausand gorges and the altitude varies from 20m to 534 m. Radio-

collaring tigers for this study was a challenge due to the topography of the area and

vegetation. We

needed to immobilize tigers with a drug which has wide safety margin, a potent sed

ative/anaesthetic,

requires low volume for delivery and has specific antidote. We selected a combination of Medito

midine

and Ketamine which provided us combination of benefits needed. Medetomidine h

as specific antidote

known as Atipamezole. This is the first time that we used Medetomidine and Ketam

ine combination in

free ranging tigers in India.

Five females and two males were effectively immobilized on 11 occasions using 50

-60 µg/kg

medetomidine and 1-2 mg/kg ketamine by i.m. injection via projectile dart. All the

animals were located

on kills and darted from elephant back from a distance of 15-35 meters. Duration of sedation was

satisfactory for all field procedures and radio collaring. Recumbency occurred in 8-

11 minutes after

darting and all field procedures were completed in 30-45 minutes. Reversal of the

sedation was done

using 25-35 mg of atipamezole intramuscularly. Recovery was smooth usually wit

hin 10-14 minutes of

i.m. injection of atipamezole. Advantage of medetomidine and ketamine combinatio

n for sedation of

tigers included small drug volume for darting, rapid and smooth induction, predicta

ble duration of

sedation and ability to reverse anaesthesia. It is concluded that a total dose of 10-1

2 mg of

medetomidine and 150 mg-200 mg of ketamine provides practical and safe immob

ilization of tigers in

free ranging conditions. The talk followedconsiderably good number of questions a

nd one of the

participants shared his experiences on medetomidine + ketamine combination.

The data was presented in “Felid Biologyand Conservation Conference”, 17-21 Se

ptember, 2007 in

Oxford, UK. The conference was organized by the Wildlife Conservation, Research

Unit (Wild CRU) from

the Zoology Department at University of Oxford, UK. The conference was participate

d by over 200

international researchers concerned withthe study and conservation of all member

s of the felids.

Welcome reception was held on Monday17 September, 07 at Oxford University M

useum of Natural

History (OUMNH). Thomas Kaplan, Founder and Chairman of the Panthera Founda

tion and George

Schaller addressed the reception. The venues of the conference included OUMNH for plenary talks and

the Martin Wood and Lindemann Lecturetheatres of the Physics Department where

scientific talks were

held in the afternoon hours. Closing dinner was held at Keble College of the Oxford

University and the

closing address was delivered by Prof. David MacDonald of WildCRU.

The opportunity to attend this conferenceand present our data was possible throug

h the funding support

of Global Tiger Patrol, UK. I was also ableto meet several internationally renowned

researchers working

in ecology, genetics, health, behaviour and conservation and management aspects

of felids.

I also spent some time to visit science area and the Bodleian library of the Oxford U

niversity. The entire

visit and participation in the conference was very productive and valuable. I respect

fully acknowledge

financial help provided by Global Tiger Patrol to attend this conference.

Mike BirkheadAlthough the most well knownface associated with Indianwildlife has to be the charismaticValmik Thapar, the director whobrought him to our televisionscreens is the less well-knownMike Birkhead. Mike’sdistinguished career as producerand director of televisionprogrammes about the naturalworld, includes an impressive listof awards. GTP first worked withMike Birkhead in 1994 when itreceived funds raised through theBBC’s broadcast of ‘Tiger Crisis’.He was also responsible for theBBC series ‘Land of the Tiger’,‘The Tale of The Peacock And The

Tiger’, ‘Tiger’, ‘The Tigers’Fortress’, ‘Danger in TigerParadise’, ‘Search for Tigers’‘Tigers of Emerald Forest’, ‘GuyPearce’s Ultimate Guide To Tigersand ‘Tiger Zero’. His more recentwork ‘Battle to Save The Tiger’about three champions of tigerconservation in India – Dr RaghuChundawat, Valmik Thapar andBelinda Wright , was broadcastlast year on BBC2, narrated by SirDavid Attenborough.

Mike was honoured when hereceived the Lion Award at WildlifeAsia’s first ever Asian film festival,inaugurated in Singapore, for‘Tiger Zero’ his hard-hitting film onthe tiger crisis. Mike’s presence inSingapore resulted in much

discussion on tigers includingpublic engagements and thescreening of his films by theSingapore National Parks Board.Together with a series of otherdiscussions at the film festival, ithelped spread the message andcreate greater awareness of theplight of the tiger in a consumernation.

Our congratulations go to Mike.GTP was delighted to help, in asmall way, to enable him to travelto Singapore to personally collecthis award, and receive therecognition of his peers in theconservation field and to spreadthe word about the current tigercrisis to a wider audience.

Global Tiger Patrol 20084

FurtherAwards -

Ullas Karanth

GTP is pleased to offer itscongratulations to Dr K UllasKaranth who, in October 2007,received the prestigious J PaulGetty Award for ConservationLeadership by the World WildlifeFund-US. Dr Karanth wasrecognised for his pioneeringand outstanding leadership inconservation science. Thisincludes successfully combingresearch, publications andfieldwork. Particular examplesare facilitating work in andaround three protected areas inthe Western Ghats; innovativework on voluntary resettlementof villagers benefiting bothpeople and wildlife; and hiscurrent focus on perfectingmethods for monitoring wildlife

abundance and distribution. Theaward’s cash prize of $200,000will be used to establishgraduate fellowships named inhonour of Dr Karanth and J PaulGetty. The fellowships willsupport graduate students inconservation-related fields at aninstitution of higher learning ofthe winner’s choice.

Dr Karanth was also therecipient of the prestigiousSanctuary – ABN AMRO Wildlife

Lifetime Service award 2007.The winners were announcedon 6 December 2007 inMumbai, the 8th annual awardsinstituted to recognise andreward ‘Earth Heroes’. Nineyears ago, ABN AMRO BankN.V. (India) joined hands withSanctuary, India’s leadingwildlife magazine, to honourordinary men and womenengaged in an extraordinarymission – to save the planet.

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

Global Tiger Patrol 2008 5

Skin TradeAt the 2007 Litang HorseFestival in Sichuan, China,not a single person wasseen wearing genuine tiger,leopard or otter skin. This isa remarkable contrast to thescenes of 2005, whenhundreds of people werewearing the skins ofendangered species. Thechange is largely due to thesuccess of local andinternational awarenesscampaigns. It appears thatit is no longer considered“fashionable” or politicallycorrect to wear or sell tigeror leopard skins, as theseanimals are protected.

EIA and WPSI documentedthis long-lasting andprofound change inconsumer attitude in Lhasain February 2007. Theprogress may well belocalised, but with acontinued decline in whatwas the primary market fortiger, leopard and otterskins, there is room forhope. GTP funded theproduction of aneducational DVD targeted atthe Tibetan skin tradeproduced by EIA and WPSIin 2006.

FurtherAwards -

TravelOperatorsfor Tigers(TOFT)

Travel Operators for Tigers(TOFT) won the SanctuaryABN-AMRO ‘Wind UnderWings’ Award for anorganisation that hassupported one or more of itsemployees to be of serviceto nature. TOFT’s IndianDirector, Abhishek Behl,received this award for hiswork in six Indian parksand sanctuaries in an effortto turn responsible tourisminto a conservation tool.

This award would not havebeen possible without thesupport and encouragementfrom all TOFT members inIndia and the UK.

“Long-termscientific studieshighlight preydepletion as a keydriver in thedecline of tigernumbers. Wildtiger populationsexploit a secureprey base and thenbecome highlyproductive, viableand stable”.

Dr K Ullas Karanth

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

Abhishek Behl collecting award.Photo: Sanctuary Magazine.

A GrrrreatNew FairGlobal Tiger Patrol to benefitFriday 18 – Sunday 20April 2008

Esher Hall at Sandown ParkRacecourse is the venue for asmart new fine art and antiquesfair being launched this April andGlobal Tiger Patrol has beennominated as the event’s charity.GTP will be manning a stand withinformation and opportunities towin fabulous prizes for the durationof the fair. We have already beenpromised a grrreat 19th centurytiger print by one of the exhibitors.

Some 45 specialist dealers,pre-dominantly from the BritishAntique Dealers’ Association andLAPADA have been invited toshowcase their finest piecesover the weekend of 18 – 20 Aprilat The Esher Hall Antiques andFine Art Fair. Fine items onoffer span several centuries offashion, including 20th centuryart, suitable for both traditionaland contemporary interiors,jewellery and watches to melt theheart of someone special. Othertreasures to furnish your homecomprise magnificent bronzesculptures, beautiful antiquemaps and prints, oak andmahogany longcase and giltmantel clocks, books to boostyour library, oil and watercolourpaintings to grace your walls,exquisite English, oriental andcontinental ceramics, exceptionaloriental rugs, town and countryfurniture, glass decanters andtableware, superior silver,unusual objets d’art anddecorative accessories, and aclutch of tiger and wildlifeinspired fine art and antiques,with prices ranging from a fewhundred pounds up to sixfigure sums.

The Esher Hall Antiques & Fine ArtFair is one of three small luxuryantiques fairs very successfully runby Ingrid Nilson of The AntiquesDealers Fair Limited, herself also adealer in decorative prints. Herreputation goes before her -David Moss of the Antiques TradeGazette wrote, about another fairlaunched and organised by IngridNilson, on 3 November 2007saying, “There is unanimous praisefor the second-to-none organisationby Ingrid Nilson, and the fair has areputation of being among the bestlooking on the circuit”.

6

Bronze, c1887 fromGarret & Hurst Sculpture

Join us for Opening Drinks

Come and join us on Friday

evening (18 April) for opening

night drinks between 6-8pm to

celebrate.

Contact us for free tickets to

this exciting new event. We

hope to see you there.

Tickets and Information

If you would like a freeticket to the fair, pleasesend us an email atadmin@globaltigerpatrol.orgmarking the subject boxESHER HALL TICKET ortelephone 01376 520320.

For more information aboutthe fair, visitwww.esherhallfair.com

The Esher Hall Antiquesand Fine Art Fair18 – 20 April 2008Esher HallSandown Park RacecourseEsherSurrey KT10 9AJ

Opening hours12 noon – 8pm (Friday)10.30am – 6pm (Saturday)10.30am – 5pm (Sunday)

Ample free parking. Crèchefacilities at the weekend.

GTP WorksWith OtherOrganisationsInternational Tiger Coalition

Global Tiger Patrol has become amember of the International TigerCoalition, an alliance of 41organisations across the globe,united under the common aim ofstopping trade in tiger parts andproducts from all sources.

This unprecedented coalition,made up of environmental, zooand animal protectionorganisations as well as thetraditional Chinese medicinecommunity, speaks with one voicein calling for an end to trade intiger parts and products throughincreased intelligence-led lawenforcement and strengtheningexisting tiger-trade bans.Furthermore, the coalition hasjoined leaders of the internationaltraditional Chinese medicineindustry in asking China to makeits successful 14-year tiger-tradeban permanent.

The aim of the coalition is tocoordinate research,communications and awareness-raising efforts in order to provide awell thought out and strongresponse to the organised crimethat sustains illegal tiger trade andendangers all wild tigers.

Travel Operators for Tigers (TOFT)

Travel Operators for Tigers is acampaign set up in 2004 by anumber of concerned Indianfocused Travel Operators in the UKwho believed there was a need forchange in the way that nature andwildlife tourism was developing inIndia. Working with Global TigerPatrol, the idea is that all thoseinvolved in 'tiger tourism',

including tour operators,accommodation providers, localservices, park management andof course visitors, will jointogether to attempt to halt thedemise of the tiger. Throughcollective action and adherenceto Codes of Conduct, thecampaign aims to make wildlifetourism in India moreresponsible and moresustainable.

If you are planning to visit tigersin India, please can we requestthat you book your trip with aTOFT member. See the websitefor details. For an update on thework of Tour Operators for Tiger,see the article on page 8 or visitwww.toftiger.org

21st Century Tiger

21st Century Tiger, Global TigerPatrol’s wild tiger conservationpartnership with the ZoologicalSociety of London continuesapace, having funded some 80projects in Cambodia, China,India, Indonesia, Malaysia,Russia and Thailand, since itsinception in 1997.

Current projects includevoluntary resettlement of forest-dwelling communities fromNagarahole National Park insouthern India; environmentaleducation and outreach with thelocal people of Primorye in theRussian Far East; and assistingthe Indonesian government toconserve tigers and other wildlifethrough the development of atrue conservation matrix ofhabitat types and land uses. Thisneeds to be capable ofsupporting wildlife andecosystem services whilst stillcontributing to the country’seconomic and socialdevelopment. For updatedinformation news and projectsrequiring support, please visitwww.21stcenturytiger.org

Global Tiger Patrol 2008

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

7

An UpdatefromTRAVELOPERATORSFOR TIGERS

It has been another very busy yearfor the Travel Operators for Tigers(TOFT) team, and the new tigerseason is back with us.

TOFT has been gaining friendsand influence this season in manyquarters, particularly amongst thewildlife tourism sector andamongst India’s best knowconservationists, with both DrRaghunandan Chundawat and DrUllas Karanth now as keensupporters. The 6 key parks inwhich we operate, Corbett, Kanha,Bandavgarh, Panna, Pench andRanthambhore, all have TOFTrepresentatives, visionaryindividuals who are themselvespassionate about what they aredoing.

One of the key pillars of thecampaign is to affect the very bestecotourism practices andprinciples into the operations ofthe lodge communitiessurrounding these parks. Withtiger tourism expanding at anextraordinary rate (14 new lodgesin Bandhavgarh alone this year)and a tourism growth rate of 10%

to 15% per year, ensuring thesehabitat, land and resourcepressures are well managed iscritical to the long-term health ofthese parks. The ridiculous issuesexperienced at the end of 2006,when Ranthambhore was closedby a court order for 10 days,under the premise that tourismwas affecting the health of thetiger population, ensures thatTOFT’s grounds for campaigningfor ‘responsible use of wild habitat’is increasingly important to thelong term welfare andconservation health of these parks,and to the understanding andmanagement of tourism by park

and government officials.

Nobody can deny today that tigersare in a very bad way in India withrecent reports stating statistics asfew as 1,411 tigers left in thewild. The healthiest populationsnow exist almost entirely in parksand reserves. They also commonlyexist in the greatest densitieswithin tourism zones of key parkslike those in which we focus ourattention. Encouraged by the TOFTcampaign, there is increasingrecognition that responsibletourism does provide a key tool toIndia’s conservationists in theirbattle to save tiger habitat,

Global Tiger Patrol 20088

Julian Matthews awarding aPugmark Certificate to Shergarh

reflected in our winning theprestigious ABN-AMRO’s ‘WindUnder the Wings’ award recently,in association with SanctuaryMagazine, highlighting TOFT’sgrowing importance andcommitment, and our IndiaDirector Abhishek Behl’ssignificant work in achieving thisattitudinal change.

Madhya Pradesh parks must becongratulated on their attempts torecognise the value of tourism totheir parks. They are seeking tooffer new ways to enhancewilderness experiences includingwalking trails, hides and campingoptions, but still some education isneeded both within the travel tradeand parks to understand themechanisms by which they canwork most effectively, particularlywith regards to park fees andactivities.

In 2007, we ran two campaigns,one to the Prime Minister of India,to support the call for greaterstrategic clarity on tiger protectionmeasures and a new independentpark service, out of the clutches of

the Indian Forestry Service,because of the continuingcompromised position that such astructure still has to the successfulrunning of parks. Secondlycomments to Madhya Pradesh’sparks on the issue of higher parkfees and distribution of these feesto support conservation effortsmore successfully. We willcontinue to pursue our campaignshere because the situation is stillnot clear on either.

TOFT has to be able to measureoperational standards fairly and solast summer Abhishek Behlworked on a new audit (withoutreinventing the audit wheel) –called the PUG rating - so that wecan more effectively identify andreward best practice and help,support and influence operationsthat are not able or willing to makechanges that affect the goals oflong term conservation of theregions in which they operate.

The PUG audit takes three basicforms. A lodge’s own self-assessment, a proper auditconsultation and visitors’

feedback. All these processes havenow been put in place and wewere delighted to announce inOctober 2007, that we hadawarded TOFT PUG Rankings to 5lodges. We gave our secondhighest ranking, Quality PUGRatings, to Shergarh Lodge inKanha and Dev Vilas inRanthambhore for their excellentexamples, and third highestranking, Good PUG practice toKanha Jungle Lodge,Ranthambhore Bagh and KiplingCamp in Kanha. In the 2007/8season we aim to cover mostlodges within the TOFT designatedparks, a large number of whomare now taking up the call to beaudited, from some of the smallerprivately owned ones as well asthe luxury branded operations nowincreasingly part of the tourismmix in these parks.

TOFT has also written a simplehandbook for lodge owners to helpthem with new ideas, innovations,community interactions and costefficiencies that will help them tobe both better businesses and runmore sustainable operations.

Global Tiger Patrol 2008 9

Julian Matthews meeting villagers in Panpatta

Copies of this handbook havebeen distributed to all TOFTaccommodation members or canbe downloaded from our website.All TOFT lodge members will alsobe obliged to have a leafletdisplayed in their bedroomsexplaining the campaign as wellas other literature to help theTOFT campaign’s visibility in andaround parks.

It is amazing, given the numbersof visitors into tiger parks today,that there is still no proper pocketguidebook to any of the parks*, sowe are in discussions with thewell known Sanctuary Magazineto publish a series of qualityguidebooks for the TOFT parks, aresult of which a percentage of thecover price will be ploughed backinto projects on the ground.

Whilst the lodges and resorts areat the sharp end of the campaign,all who fall within the tourismequation are critical to ensure thecampaign’s success. Apresentation given at WWF officesin Delhi in early December 2006to over 30 ground agents andDestination ManagementCompanies (DMCs) resulted ingaining 16 DMC members allagreeing to similar best practiceprinciples, encouraging andinfluencing their suppliers - bothupstream and downstream - tobecome more involved and moreactive in their roles of developing,promoting and marketing a betterand more varied range of toursand options for their clients inthese wilderness areas. Thanks toall UK Tour Operators forencouraging their own agents toattend.

Massive companies who carryover 200,000 international clientsa year, like Sita (now Kuoni) andTravel Inn have joined thecampaign and also luxuryspecialists like Banyan Tours andRoyal Expeditions. We are

delighted to welcome them to thecampaign and see them as acritical cog. We have alsocontinued to expand our UKmembership amongst the touroperator community with newmembers in 2007 including largecompanies like Explore, AudleyTravel and Scott Dunn joining us,as well as a number of othersmaller ones like Indus Tours,Mongoose and Tim Best Travel. Atotal of 31 Tour Operators are nowmembers of the campaign and canbe found on the website.

This season 2007/8 we are settingup TOFT INDIA, a not for profitcompany based in Delhi, that willbe overseen by invited TOFTrepresentatives from the Indianwildlife travel arena. They will helpoversee the projects and strategiesimplemented in each park, part ofour next stage of the campaign.

Whilst TOFT is not set up to be aclassic ‘aid’ funder, it does aim tocatalyse and bring together resortsand services to consider innovativeinitiatives that support communitydevelopment, new localemployment and services, skillstraining and huge developmentalissues like waste and waterdisposal. We have publishedproject funding guidelines(www.toftigers.org/projects/howwefund.aspx) on the website, forthose who maybe interested.

In Corbett, we have helped puttogether a waste disposalprogramme operated by a newcollective lodge enterprise, fundedby the TOFT lodges. Also underconsideration is a ‘sponsor a guardpost’ programme in a host ofparks, enhanced park guidetraining workshops, and £2,000has been granted to a project runby D. V. Girish, working forconsolidating the tiger habitat inand around Bhadra Tiger Reservein the Western Ghats (see page 2).

As always, the limiting factor ismore often time than money. WithAbhishek Behl, our only full timer,doing a fantastic job in the field onvery limited resources and meworking hard outside of officehours, we are seeking to find waysof accelerating the advocacy andimpact of the campaign in light ofthe ever increasing interest inTOFT, with new members inAustralia, Sweden and I hope theUS and Canada. Its all go here!

Finally we are looking forinnovative sponsorship to help todevelop the campaign and keepthe Delhi office at full power yearround – so all ideas or support arewelcome (via Global Tiger Patrol).Our excellent new website,increasingly an importantmarketing platform for bestpractice operators can be seen atwww.toftigers.org

Julian Matthews

*Global Tiger Patrol part-fundedtwo editions of the groundbreakingUltimate Ranthambhore Guide in2001 and 2002, with profitsgoing to the Ranthambhore staffwelfare organisation.

Global Tiger Patrol 200810

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

Global Tiger Patrol 2008

TwoFree andSimpleWays toRaise Moneyfor GTP:

Raise Money for Global TigerPatrol just by searching theWeb

You can raise money for GlobalTiger Patrol every time yousearch on the internet and itwon’t cost you a penny.www.everyclick.com is aninternet search engine with abig difference – it donates halfits revenue to charity.

One sixth form student raised£8.90 in a month just bysurfing the net for his studies.

Please consider makingwww.everyclick.com/uk/globaltigerpatrol your home pageand use it whenever yousearch the web.

Switch2help

If you are considering checkingout that you are getting thebest deal from your electricityand gas providers, you canalso benefit Global Tiger Patrol.

Simply log on towww.switch2help.com andcheck out the options. If youdecide to switch providers,Switch2help will donate £5 toa charity of your choice. Wewould be most grateful if youselected Global Tiger Patrol tobe the beneficiary. You cancarry out comparisons as oftenas you like. There is noobligation to switch and it isabsolutely free.

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

ImportantPlease Read

Mailing listupdate

GTP is trying to cut itscosts. We are cleaning upour mailing list. You willalready notice that we havereduced the size of thenewsletter in order to keeppostage costs down.However, you can help usfurther by letting us haveyour email address, so thatwe can alert you when thenewsletter information isposted on our website. Bysending us your emailaddress, we can then alsoinform you electronically offuture events and news. Apaper version of thenewsletter is available uponrequest.

For those who have noemail address, please fill inthe enclosed form toconfirm your details andsend it back to the GTPoffice.

If we do not get aresponse fromyou, we willassume that youno longer wish tokeep in touchwith GTP.

11

Global Tiger Patrol 20081

Thank YouAlex

Alex Tarbun becameinterested in tigers afterworking on a school project acouple of years ago, she washorrified to find out howendangered tigers are and hastried to find ways to help thespecies ever since.

She decided that her 13thbirthday last year would giveher a fantastic opportunity toraise funds to help tigerconservation. She held a tiger

themed birthday party andinstead of guests bringing herpresents she asked people todonate money to her chosencharity.

“I chose Global Tiger Patrolbecause it is a local charityand because it believes that ifyou protect the tiger you arealso protecting thebiodiversity within the tigerrange forests”, Alex said.

A GTP trustee gave a brieftalk at the party about tigersand the threats they face.

Alex raised a staggering£500.

12

GLOBALTIGERPATROLTrustees: Amanda Bright (Chair),Rose Corcoran, Carole Elliott,Jonathan Hodrien, Julian Matthews,Jon Palmer, Beverly Roberts, TobySinclair

Marketing and PR: Gail McGuffie

Newsletter designer: Adrian Brett

Global Tiger Patrol87 Newland StreetWithamEssex CM8 1AD

Telephone: +44 (0)1376 520320Fax: +44 (0)1376 519763Email: admin@globaltigerpatrol.orgwww.globaltigerpatrol.org

Produced byGlobal Tiger Patrol (April 2008)Registered charity number 328126The Ranthambhore Society

Acknowledgements

GTP would like to thank all itsindividual donors for their continuedsupport, without which our workwould not be possible. Thanks shouldgo to our corporate donors, Wild AboutArt, Discovery Initiatives, and all travelcompanies who have joined the TravelOperators for Tigers campaign.

People are highly innovative in theirfundraising escapades: from theamazingly mature selflessness of 13year old Alex Tarbun to the activities ofstreet collectors, all of which are mostgratefully received.

We would also like to thank the familyof Florence Perkins who agreed thatdonations from her funeral mournersshould be paid to GTP in her memory,as well as a legacy from her estate.

GTP is also most grateful to RobCarter for designing and hosting itsnew website and Adrian Brett fordesigning the newsletter.

Mike

Vickers

www.tigersin

theforest.com

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