"Year of the Tiger" Sparks Campaign to Save Big Cat
12/3/97
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Headline: "Year of the Tiger" Sparks Campaign to Save Big Cat
Source: Reuters
Date: 12/3/97
Byline: Sue Pleming
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading international wildlife groups
Wednesday announced a new conservation plan to protect the
dwindling population of tigers in the wild, coinciding with the
Chinese ``Year of the Tiger'' in 1998.
``In the last century we have seen the disappearance of 95
percent of the world's wild tigers. As much as one-quarter has
been wiped off the face of the Earth in the last decade alone,''
said Ginette Hemley, director of international wildlife policy
for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
At the turn of the century, the world had about 100,000
tigers. Conservationists estimate there are now 5,000 to 7,000
tigers in the wild, with the greatest concentration in India.
The WWF, National Geographic Society and the Wildlife
Conservation Society have drawn up a strategic plan to boost the
number of tigers.
``We see (The Year of the Tiger) as an auspicious
opportunity to bring East and West together in the cause of
tiger conservation,'' Hemley told a news conference in
Washington to announce the plan.
Conservationists attribute the decline in tigers to a loss
in habitat, a shrinking prey base and poaching pressures due to
rising demand for tiger bone as an ingredient in traditional
Chinese medicine.
Joshua Ginsberg, director of the Asia Program for the
Wildlife Conservation Society, said the shortage of prey for
tigers was a serious problem. ``Without cat food you can't have
a cat ... If we don't save prey, we don't save tigers.''
The campaign will focus initially on four tiger habitats --
the Russian Far East; Indochina's region of Virachay-Xe
Piane-Yok Don encompassing parts of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos;
the Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki region straddling Nepal and India and
the Sundarbans mangrove area shared by India and Bangladesh.
Conservationists will also boost efforts to close down North
American markets for tiger products and try to curb demand for
tiger bone medicine by educating people about alternative
products.
A recent survey found there were more tiger-based products
for sale in the United States now than a few years ago and
Hemley said her campaign would target the United States to
remove tiger-based products from shops.
The wildlife organizations also want to secure new U.S.
commitments to tiger conservation, including passage of a bill
that would ban sales of any product in the United States
claiming to contain tiger or rhino parts.
``In order to save tigers in the wild, our conservation
efforts must be thorough and strategic,'' Hemley said. ``With
this conservation plan, broad public support and decisive
political action, we are confident that this precious species
can be saved.''
Public awareness of tiger conservation was essential for the
campaign and National Geographic magazine has adopted the plight
of the tiger in its December edition. Photographer Michael
Nichols spent more than a year photographing tigers in seven
countries for the magazine, producing a series of stunning shots
of the elusive animal.
Nichols, who took many of his pictures from atop an
elephant, joined the appeal to save tigers. ``Those tiger state
countries need our help, without criticizing them,'' he said.