Threatened tiger, sickly
dragon By Priyanka Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI - In an ominous trend that
threatens to undo three decades of conservation
efforts, populations of the Indian tiger
(Panthera tigris tigris) are once again
dwindling, with some wildlife experts even
predicting extinction in the wild.
The
main reason is increased poaching, driven by
demand for tigers in East Asian economies,
particularly China, where tiger
parts are consumed for their
supposed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties.
Ironically - given that prosperity should
free up resources for wildlife conservation -
economic growth in East Asia has actually
exacerbated the problem, because it has enabled
more people to afford the high cost of tiger-based
preparations. In a vicious cycle, increased demand
has in turn led to a steep hike in the prices of
tiger remedies, making the trade even more
profitable. Urgent action is required to reverse
the trend and secure the survival of the Indian
tiger (also known as the Bengal tiger).
The sorry state of the tiger population in
India came into focus after revelations about the
Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary, on the low-lying
Aravali Hills in the northwestern desert state of
Rajasthan. A World Wildlife Fund-India (WWF)
report said there may be no tigers left in
Sariska, a rich deciduous forest that until last
year counted 16-18 tigers but is now home to only
peacocks and deer.
"The damage to the
Sariska tiger reserve is likely to have taken
place between July and December 2004. If any
tigers remain, their numbers are likely to be
small,'' said the WWF report.
While the
circumstances vary from park to park,
animal-rights activists say Sariska exemplifies
the overall state of the country's wildlife
management. Wildlife teams scouring the Sariska
reserve for tiger signs found no footprints in
December last year, compared with 178 found in the
same month in 2003.
Panic over the
country's dwindling stock of tigers intensified
after another non-government group said that at
least 18 of 47 tigers in the famous Ranthambore
Park, also in Rajasthan, could have disappeared in
the past year. Reports followed of poachers having
killed six big cats, including tigers and
leopards, in another big sanctuary, Bandhavgarh,
in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, between
April and December last year.
To add to
the alarm, a United Nations team said tiger
poaching was accelerating in India and officials
and conservation groups were refusing to face up
to the problem. "India is not looking after its
tigers properly,'' a member of the team was quoted
as saying.
The team asserted that the
Indian tiger population, which historically has
constituted 60% of the world's total, had fallen
from 4,500 to well below 3,000. According to
government figures, the tiger population fell to
3,642 in 2001 from 4,334 in 1989. Some
conservationists put the number at fewer than
2,000.
A century ago, there were an
estimated 40,000 tigers in India. The Project
Tiger conservation program was launched when it
was discovered that the population of the big cats
had dropped to an alarming 1,800 after years of
hunting during the British era. While British
hunters and wanton Indian princes and maharajas
were responsible for the near-extinction of tigers
in the past, the threat this time is from
someplace else: the Far East, mainly China.
China's tiger fetish A leading
British think-tank has said India's tigers could
be extinct within 10 years because of an upsurge
in poaching for skins and Chinese medicine. The
use of tiger parts in Oriental medicine is nothing
new. Poaching of tigers for the traditional
Chinese medicine industry started in northern
India in the mid-1980s.
But it is only in
recent years that the increased standard of living
in Southeast Asia and China has made these
remedies accessible to more people. The booming
economies and personal incomes have caused demand
and prices to soar, lifting the international
trade in wildlife products to an estimated
US$6-billion-a-year business.
It is
estimated that a single tiger can fetch up to
$100,000 as its organs, teeth, bones and penis
also fetch a high price. Tiger-bone prices are
reported to have also skyrocketed in South Korea,
Taiwan and many other countries to more than $500
a kilogram. In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger-penis soup,
which many believe boosts virility, costs more
than $400, and a pair of eyes (said to fight
epilepsy and malaria) more than $300.
Having decimated their own sources, Far
Eastern traditional-medicine manufacturers are now
targeting India for their supply of tiger bones.
It is believed that more than 50% of China's
billion-plus inhabitants use medicines of this
type. Some remedies list tiger portions as an
ingredient, but genuine tiger parts are so
expensive that often the medicines may contain
only traces of them. Yet even this is enough to
promote the continued slaughter of the animal.
"Trade in tiger parts is very high. For a
few thousand dollars, people are willing to kill
the tiger,'' said Ravi Singh, chief of WWF-India.
According to reports, in many parts of
China, tiger parts are a delicacy that is served
at special private banquets. The use of tiger
products and medicines is seen as a symbol of high
status and wealth. There has also been a
resurgence in traditional Chinese medical
practices, fueled by cultural pride, and a growing
sentiment that Western medicines are not good
enough to treat certain illnesses. Non-Asian
communities are also increasingly supplementing
traditional Chinese medical treatments into their
Western lifestyles, further feeding the demand for
tiger parts.
The illegal trade is now
widespread and in the hands of ruthless,
sophisticated operators, some of whom are reported
to enjoy political patronage. There has also been
evidence that profits from the wildlife trade are
being used to fund armed insurgency in India's
volatile northeastern states. Shrinking habitat
and extreme weather, with long droughts and
floods, are further pushing India's tigers toward
extinction.
It is a matter of shame that
today a tiger in India can be killed with as
little as a dollar's worth of poison or a $10
steel trap. Locals who know the forests and the
habits of tigers well are being used to kill them,
and paid a nominal amount for their efforts, with
the real profits raked in by greedy traders and
middlemen.
Alarmed by reports of a rapid
fall in tiger numbers, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has ordered a police investigation into the
killings of Indian tigers and created a new task
force to save the endangered species. A
high-profile wildlife-crime prevention bureau has
been established.
Several voluntary
organizations blame the government for not
fulfilling its wildlife-conservation duties. They
cite the example of Japan, which has tightened
legislation on tiger hunting, plugged loopholes
that allowed the sale of tiger parts, and put a
comprehensive education campaign in place.
With the wealth of customers who are
willing and able to buy tiger parts growing year
by year, the pressure on India's tigers looks as
though it will only get worse.
Priyanka Bhardwaj is a New
Delhi-based writer.
(Copyright 2006
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and republishing
.)
