Posted on 27 March 2011
A tiger farmer suspected of being a major
figure in Vietnam’s illegal tiger trade
has been arrested and sentenced to three
years in prison, dealing a blow to the global
tiger parts commerce that is pushing the
species to the brink of extinction.
The arrest comes as
experts and policymakers from the tiger
range countries meet for a status check
on ongoing efforts to save the iconic species.
According to Education
for Nature Vietnam (ENV), Huynh Van Hai,
the owner of the Thanh Canh Tourism Park
in Binh Duong Province, was arrested by
local police for selling tigers out of the
back door of his park. Fourteen others,
including Hai’s son, were also arrested
and sentenced this month, with Hai and two
associates also receiving a fine of US $70,000,
ENV said on their website.
Strengthening global
cooperation to save tigers
The International Conference
on Tiger Conservation, to be held in New
Delhi, India starting Monday, will bring
together the 13 countries that still contain
tigers, including Vietnam, to further cooperation
and international efforts to save the tiger
from extinction.
“This is the kind of
news we need to hear more of as tiger range
countries intensify their efforts to save
the world’s remaining population,” stated
Mike Baltzer, Head of WWF’s Tigers Alive
Initiative.
“If we are to not only
save tigers from disappearing, but also
increase their numbers, we need work together
to improve law enforcement capacities and
spur the authorities into action. We congratulate
the Vietnamese authorities and their partners
for this major success, and we look for
stronger law enforcement to be on the agenda
for this week’s conference.”
The New Delhi conference
is the first international follow up to
the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP),
a groundbreaking agreement forged in November
2010 by the tiger countries and the international
community at a Tiger summit hosted by Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg,
Russia. It is expected to tackle GTRP implementation
and monitoring, as well as reveal new tiger
population estimates for India, which contains
around half of world’s remaining tiger population,
estimated to be as low as 3,200 individuals.
The GTRP has set a goal of doubling the
world’s tiger population by 2022.
Black market in tigers
and tiger parts
The demand for tigers
and their parts is in part fueling the tiger’s
recent rapid decline. According to ENV,
the bones from one tiger have a value of
USD $20,000. Since 2005, there have been
24 reported seizures of tigers, their parts
and bones in Vietnam.
Wild tiger population
at an all time low
As the New Delhi conference
convenes, the tiger population is at an
all time low. Estimated to be around 100,000
just 100 years ago, tigers have declined
97 percent, losing more than 94 percent
of their home range. In addition to poaching
and the illegal trade, the remaining pockets
of tigers are beset by conflict with an
increasing human population, habitat loss
and prey loss.
+ More
India releases tiger
numbers as experts convene
Posted on 28 March 2011
New Delhi, India – The Indian Government
today released new tiger population numbers
for the first time since 2007, indicating
that numbers have increased in the country
that has half of the world’s remaining wild
tigers.
The government estimated
current tiger numbers in India at 1,706,
up from 1,411 during the last count in 2007.
However, the 1,706 figure includes an additional
tiger reserve in the count, the Sundarbans,
that contained 70 tigers. This area was
not counted in 2007.
Therefore, when comparing
the previous survey with the current one,
the official estimate stands at 1,636 when
leaving out the Sundarbans, or an increase
of 225.
Figures were broken
down by site with some populations showing
increases, and others falling.
“As seen from the results,
recovery requires strong protection of core
tiger areas and areas that link them, as
well as effective management in the surrounding
areas,” said Mike Baltzer, Head of WWF’s
Tigers Alive Initiative. “With these two
vital conservation ingredients, we can not
only halt their decline, but ensure tigers
make a strong and lasting comeback.”
The figures marked the
opening of the International Tiger Conservation
Conference, a three day meeting following
on the heels of the groundbreaking Global
Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), a worldwide
plan to bring the species back from the
brink of extinction which was forged in
November 2010 at an international tiger
conservation meeting in St. Petersburg,
Russia organized by Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin.
The count was conducted
by India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority
with key partners, including WWF, in the
largest tiger population survey ever undertaken.
“These numbers give
us hope for the future of tigers in the
wild, and that India continues to play an
integral role in the tiger’s recovery,”
said WWF International Director General
Jim Leape, who is chairing a conference
session on the role of international and
national partners in the GTRP's implementation.
In its detail, this
tiger estimation exercise shows the importance
India attaches to this prime conservation
issue,” said WWF India CEO Ravi Singh. “The
results indicate the need to intensify field
based management and intervention to go
beyond the present benchmark, bringing more
people and partners into the process.”
Several areas in India,
including those that are not Tiger Reserves
and outside national parks, were intensively
surveyed for the first time. The Moyar Valley
and Sigur Plateau in Southwest India’s Western
Ghats Complex, that has been a focus of
recent WWF conservation efforts, was found
to contain more than 50 tigers. Similarly,
the Ramnagar Forest Reserve outside Corbett
National Park showed a good number of tigers.
In addition to high-level
officials from the 13 countries that still
have tigers, the conference is expected
to hear from key NGOs and global partners
in the GTRP, including the World Bank’s
Global Tiger Initiative, the Global Tiger
Forum, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature),
WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), the
Smithsonian Institute, the wildlife trade
network TRAFFIC, CITES (Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species) and the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Numbering
more than 100,000 at the turn of the last
century, tigers have lost more than 97 percent
of their population and 94 percent of their
home range in just 100 years. They live
in increasingly isolated pockets of land
in Asia and the Russian Far East in Indonesia,
Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand,
Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal,
China and Russia. The Global Tiger Recovery
Programme marks the first formalized international
initiative to save the species from extinction.
