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.