The Tiger

We know that Bengal tigers are killed by poachers for the Chinese traditional medicine market. What route do the carcasses take to get to China from India or the other countries adjacent to India where the Bengal tiger remains (just)? Well, some carcasses have been seized in Bangkok, Thailand and the smugglers interviewed. They say that the Bengal tiger was being smuggled from Malaysia to Thailand, a hub for trade in wildlife. As Malaysia is south of Thailand it must be the case that the carcasses were shipped from India across the Indian Ocean to Malaysia and then by road to Thailand and then by road to Laos or Burma before entering southern China. That's it. Thailand is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). And so is China. Ha, ha. It's a joke, isn't it? CITES is a complete failure, pretty well. CITES in relation to cats . Thai people are mainly Buddhists. They are meant to treat animals nicely. So-called “tiger bone gl...

People who follow tiger conservation probably know that the Panna Tiger Reserve was tigerless by December 2008. This was due to poaching. A fresh strategy had to be found. I am reading an article in the Feline Conservation Federation magazine of May/June 2011 (yes about one year old) by Shekhar Kolopaka. He was brought in to help devise new strategies to protect the tiger and Panna wildlife generally. What comes across are the enormous hurdles. There seems to be a general lack of interest in involvement by people local to the park in addition to many other problems such as an inability to stamp out poaching. Local hunters hunt local wildlife and that includes tiger prey or the tiger itself. The tiger carcass is very valuable. Mr Kolopaka started initiatives such as: Expanding the Panna Tiger Reserve by introducing a buffer zone . There is also talk of creating a corridor joining three national parks in the area. Expanding the reserve is bound to encounter general resistance part...