Experts plea for global action to save tigers

Experts plea for global action to save tigers


November 1, 2009


Dismayed by dwindling numbers, some experts say tiger farming can stem
the burgeoning illegal trade in the endangered cat's pelts, bones and
body parts but others argue that this will only fuel demand.

Dismayed by dwindling numbers, some experts say tiger farming can stem
the burgeoning illegal trade in the endangered cat's pelts, bones and
body parts but others argue that this will only fuel demand.
Photograph by: Alain Compost, AFP

KATHMANDU – Tigers will become extinct unless the international
community unites urgently to find new strategies to ensure their
survival, campaigners and scientists in Nepal said on Tuesday.

Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal told the opening of a
conference of 200 delegates from 20 countries that action by individual
countries would not succeed.

"Global and regional solidarity and collective strategies armed with
concrete actions are more necessary now than ever," he said, adding
that poaching and habitat loss posed the most serious threat to tigers'
survival.

Tiger hunting is illegal worldwide and the trade in tiger parts is
banned under a treaty binding 167 countries, including Nepal.

But endangered species attract huge sums of money in China and
elsewhere in Asia, with their body parts used in traditional medicines
and aphrodisiacs while their skins are used for furniture and
decoration.

Wildlife experts say a single tiger skin is traded for a maximum of
about $1,000 US in Nepalese markets, but at least $10,000 US
internationally.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who sent a video message to the
forum, said that illegal activities of traders and poachers were
"better organised" than policy makers and conservationists.

"At present the illegal trade in wildlife is estimated at over $10
billion US (annually) across Asia -- second only to weapons and drug
smuggling," he said.

Mahendra Shrestha, programme director of the US-based Save the Tiger
Fund, said only 3,200 tigers survived in the wild, down from 100,000 a
century ago.

"We need strong law enforcement and regional cooperation," he said.
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