Sniffer dogs chase tigers in Cambodia's jungles

Feb 17, 2010
By Christiane Oelrich
DPA

Sen Monorom, Cambodia - Labrador mongrels Sadie and Scooby leap through the thick undergrowth of Cambodia's jungle, chasing their prey.

Finally, success. Scooby barks excitedly and marks his target. An exceptionally big and smelly pile of tiger droppings.

The two dogs have been trained in the US to hunt down the big cats' traces in Cambodia's huge tropical forest. They were hired, together with their handlers, by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The droppings are to help biologists determine how many tigers and leopards are still left in this wilderness region.

Environmentalists from across the globe have started a campaign to save the great cats from extinction, timed to coincide with the start of the Chinese Year of the Tiger.

Only about 3,200 tigers are believed to roam the jungles worldwide - down from more than 100,000 a century ago - a trend the activists hope to start reversing in Cambodia's forest nature reserves.

'This region has huge potential,' says Nick Cox, head of WWF's tiger programme in South-East Asia. 'The tropical forests are still intact, and if they are properly protected and there are enough prey animals, they are perfect tiger territory.'

'We want to bring tiger numbers back to the level from 50 years ago,' he says.

The 540,000-square-kilometre forest area - which is almost the size of France - ranges from Laos to north-eastern Cambodia and neighbouring Vietnam.

In the thick undergrowth, tigers can stalk their prey without being seen, creating perfect conditions for the big cats.

Indochina's colonial masters, the French, drastically reduced the wildlife in the region, as did the subsequent civil wars and Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime.

But what almost killed off the tigers was the insatiable demand from the market for traditional Chinese medicine, boosted by the long-disproved belief that tiger parts increase a man's sexual potency.

A dead tiger can earn a poacher up to 14,000 dollars.

Lean Kha says he killed 14 tigers in his poaching career. Now, he is a gamekeeper and hunts poachers.

'I know that it was a mistake,' he says. 'I have done much damage, and Buddhism demands that I make amends.'

For the past five years, patrols in the nature reserve have been stepped up. 'We have reduced the number of poachers and illegal loggers, by 95 per cent,' says nature reserve chief Sopheak Keo.

'Our gamekeepers only rarely find sawdust or animal innards, which hint at illegal goings-on.' Twenty poachers and loggers are imprisoned right now, he says.

Tigers living in their natural habitats are the best guarantee for an intact ecosystem, environmentalists argue. They want to convince governments that tigers are more valuable alive then dead.

A good tiger population in the wild can bring in a steady stream of safari tourists, they say, leading to governments preserving their forests and stopping them being turned into plantations.

'Forests conserve water resources, and tigers live near waterholes,' says US biologist Eric Dinerman. 'If governments protect their forests as tiger habitats, they also protect the water resources for millions of people.'

However, raising tiger numbers is not easy.

Releasing tigers bred in captivity is risky as they might introduce diseases. Also, for a forest to support a tiger population, there has to be enough prey. A grown tiger needs about 50 prey animals per year, says Omaliss Keo, an ecologist with Cambodia's forest authority.

'We need enough prey animals, then the forest could sustain two to three tigers per 100 square kilometres,' he says.

Some 350 tigers are believed to live in the forest area covering parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, says Omaliss Keo. There are probably 30 of them in Cambodia.

Former poacher Lean Kha thinks there may be more. Two months ago, he again found scratch marks on the forest floor.

This is where Scooby and Sadie come in. The poo sniffers and their handlers have set up camp at the Mereuch Ranger station.

Every find is awarded with games, while helpers measure the excrement heap and take samples. 'Every day we find 10 to 15,' dog handler Elizabeth Seely says. But only the lab can finally determine if the sample is from a tiger or leopard.

'We think that we found four tiger-heaps in the past eight weeks,' she says.

The Year of the (threatened) Tiger

Sat, Feb 13, 2010
Kuensel Newspaper/Asia News Network

As we welcome the Year of the Tiger, the new year is not about roaring celebration. It instead calls for more conservation actions.

Among the 13 tiger range countries in the world, Bhutan, which is best known for its conservation policies, is launching postal stamps of tigers as a sign of commitment to the global effort in saving tigers from becoming extinct.

Denominations of Nu 30 and Nu 50 stamps will be launched on February 13, at the clock tower square, along with the unveiling of a tiger mount. The mount, said nature conservation division (NCD) officials, is a reproduction of an old tiger that was rescued from Haa in 2005.

The postal stamps with "Save the Tigers" slogan is a good way of advertising, said the chief forest officer of NCD, Dr Sonam Wangyel Wang. "People use on mail, which go through various offices, countries and reach every part of the country and globe," he said.


Tigers manage the ecosystem and keep it in perfect balance, which is why it is very important to save the tigers, said Dr Sonam Wangyel Wang. "It's at the top of the food chain and controls the composition of the forest ecosystem," he said. He added that tigers are a pride for Asia and an indicator of stress on the environment. "Saving tigers is saving the pride of Asia," he said.

The Year of the Tiger is taken as an opportunity around the globe to create awareness on saving the big cats. "Tigers may become extinct if we wait for the next tiger year," said the coordinator of carnivore conservation program, Lhendup Tharchen.
By Sonam Pelden

Although Bhutan's wildlife habitat is better as compared to other countries, NCD officials said that Bhutan's tiger conservation efforts took off quite late. "We're in the last leg of the conservation process and much is left to be done," said an NCD official. He said that other countries had pockets of tiger habitats, making it difficult for tigers to move from one habitat to another. "But Bhutan's habitat are interconnected, so tigers can move," he said.

Based on old data, Bhutan is home to about 120 Royal Bengal tigers. Half of the only 3,200 tigers in the world are in India and the rest are spread across Russia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia and China.

The tiger conservation program in Bhutan began in 1995, followed by a tiger conservation strategy in 1998. Seven years after the strategy was framed, NCD developed the tiger action plan for 2006 to 2015.

Poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation have pushed tigers to the verge of extinction, say experts. In Bhutan, besides developmental activities, officials said that there is also an increase in human-tiger conflict, because domestic livestock drive wild prey to the peripheries, increasing their own chances of becoming prey.

Between 2002 and 2008, NCD has paid Nu 4,689,700 (S$142,000) to 1,672 farmers as compensation for the 1,854 livestock killed by tigers. Tiger prey includes yak, calf, sheep, horses, bull and mules. The compensation ranges between Nu 350 for a sheep up to Nu 7,500 for a yak or a jersey.

Any act of taking, injuring, destroying, killing, shooting, capturing and trading or using of tiger parts or products will lead to imprisonment of up to five years or fines between Nu 50,000 to Nu 250,000 or both as per the nature conservation act, 1995.

"We're currently focusing on coming up with a baseline data to know the precise figure," said Lhendup Tharchen. "We don't know whether it's increasing or decreasing and knowing that is our first priority."

Fewer tigers to welcome their year

February 09, 2010
Source: Global Times

China has been observing a sharp dwindling in its wild tiger population, with fewer than 50 now believed to remain in the country, conservationists said Monday, days before the Chinese lunar new year of the Tiger, which starts Sunday.

About 15 Bengal tigers live in Tibet, 10 Indochinese tigers are in southwestern Yunnan Province, and around 20 Siberian tigers are in the northeast, Xie Yan, director of the China program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said Monday.

The figures, however, are based on data from 2000.

Accurate figures are not available for the global tiger population, but the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 3,200 tigers, compared with about 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago, are still living across 12 Asian countries and in Russia.

Reasons for the speedy disappearance of the wild tiger in the country vary. But the deteriorating environment in the animal's habitats due to deforestation caused by the timber industry, residential use and infrastructure construction, are the most-blamed causes.

In the meantime, the decline in the public's favor for wild tiger protection became notable due to a lack of guaranteed compensation for villagers whose livestock were attacked by tigers.

The South China Tiger might already be extinct, Xie said, adding, "The number of wild tigers left in China is very depressing. … The populations in Tibet and in the south are still dropping."

He Yong, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), admitted that the chances of the revival or expansion of the population of Bengal tigers in Tibet were slim, as they live in a rather enclosed environment.

"It is more hopeful to revive the tiger population in the northeast and southwest," He said.

Xie said she'd pin her hopes on the country's northeast, which borders Russia, where hundreds of Siberian tigers live in the wild.

"The northeast tiger is now stable, and may be increasing a little, but the number is still very small," she added.

"But last year was the first year I've felt a lot of confidence in the support of the central government, the State Forestry Administration and local governments," Xie added.

"We see improvements in the management of nature reserves, we see the understanding of local communities, so I hope the tiger year will be the turning point for tiger conservation in China," she said.

The Hunchun Nature Reserve opened in 2001 in Jilin, becoming the country's first such habitat for Siberian tigers. In 2006, Jilin introduced regional regulations stipulating compensation for people whose livestock were attacked by wild tigers, an official effort to ease tensions between humans and tigers amid increasing competition over living space and resources.

Poaching in order to procure the highly demanded skins and bones of tigers was also a major factor for the shrinkage in the number of wild tigers. China has banned the use of tiger parts in medicine, but everything from the fur and whiskers to eyeballs and bones are feared still sought.

The black-market price for a tiger is as high as $80,000, according to He of the IFAW.

"Once the trend of mass consumption is stimulated, it will be very dangerous for the wild tigers, as the cost of killing tigers is much lower than raising them," He said.

The State Forestry Bureau vowed last month to strengthen the protection of wild tigers and severely crack down on the illicit smuggling of and trade in tiger parts.

The Indochinese tiger is also on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 1,000 left in the forests of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, reports say.

Siberian tigers are far more numerous just across the border in Russia, where around 500 still live in an area with a lighter human presence.

China last month pledged to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022 and called for the protection of habitats to save the animals from extinction.

More tigers are now living in zoos or breeding centers. The Siberian Tiger Park in Heilongjiang Province, for example, has raised more than 900 of the felines.

The WWF says the tiger faces extinction by 2022.

A sickening taste: Taste for tiger

Killed for man’s pleasure: Pelts of tigers and other big cats confiscated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Demand for tiger products is pushing the species to the brink. – REUTERS

Tuesday May 29, 2007
Taste for tiger

A plan to farm tigers for their body parts is troubling wildlife groups.

Stories by Tan Cheng Li
chengli@thestar.com.my
The Star (Malaysia)

TIGERS, under threat in every single country where they roam, now face an alarming new peril – rekindled trading of their body parts.

China, insisting that selling tigers would save the species, proposes to lift a 14-year-old domestic trade ban and seeks legal sale of farmed tiger body parts. The issue will be raised next week at The Hague, The Netherlands, where 171 nations will gather from June 3 to 16 for talks under the world’s biggest wildlife treaty, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

Justifying its stand, China argues that conserving tigers in their natural habitat has not been effective; neither has the trade prohibition. It believes legitimising sale of meat, bones, organs and claws from farm-raised tigers would stem poaching of wild tigers. Officials in Beijing are thought to be under pressure from tiger farm owners – who have an estimated 4,000 tigers – to put a commercial price on the carnivore.

China has an ally in Barun Mitra, director of the Liberty Institute, a pro-free-market think tank in New Delhi, India. Mitra has been making the case for farmed tiger trade in newspaper editorials and public appearances worldwide. He has argued that if the market were flooded by farmed tiger products, prices would drop sufficiently to make poaching and smuggling no longer attractive or worth the risk.

But wildlife experts think otherwise. They fear that lifting the trade ban, in place since 1993, would spark an open season on the world’s remaining wild tigers, which number fewer than 5,000 across 13 countries.

Dr Susan Lieberman, director of WWF’s Global Species Programme, points out that the free-market approach was what led to the endangered status of the big cat in the first place. “China once had one of the largest tiger populations in the wild and now has one of the smallest. Experts agree that this is due to the unregulated, out-of-control domestic market in tiger parts.” The Chinese plan is grave enough for 35 organisations representing more than 100 environmental, zoo, animal protection groups worldwide to unite under the International Tiger Coalition (ITC) and oppose it. The ITC argues that legalising trade in farmed tiger products will not curb poaching of wild tigers or stem demand for their body parts.

“Since wild tiger bone is thought to be superior medicinally, people would still prefer it. Products from wild tigers cannot be distinguished from farmed products, so legalising trade would provide a ‘cover’ for illegal tiger products,” says the ITC, which included groups such as Animals Asia Foundation, Conservation International, Environmental Investigation Agency, Global Tiger Patrol, Save the Tiger Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Association of Zoos and Aquarium, Zoological Society of London and WWF.

Far from satisfying demands for tiger products at low prices, the ITC says the cost of regulating trade in farmed tiger products would drive up their price, making the lower costs of poaching tigers even more attractive.

Chris Shepherd, programme officer of wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, says tiger-farming might well open the door for laundering of wild tigers, especially with the history of inadequate enforcement and weak regulations in tiger range countries in Asia.

“It will always be easier and cheaper to poach wild tigers and pass them off as captive-breds since chances of getting caught are slim, and right now there is no way of differentiating between the two,” he says. “Reopening trade will drive up demand for tiger meat and parts, as it will attract new users who think it is okay to consume such products since the animals had been reared.”

Bred for business

Wildlife experts say raising wildlife commercially, in many cases, has not benefited wild populations. Take the case of bear farming, which China started in the 1980s, to reduce pressure on wild stocks. The exact opposite is true. Wild bears are still poached, sometimes to replenish farms.

Indonesia’s sulphur-crested cockatoo is another example. Although bred in farms, it is still trapped in the wild and is now critically endangered. In markets, wild-caught birds are passed off as captive-breds and often, priced cheaper than farmed ones. The Siamese crocodile shares a similar story. It breeds well in captivity but wild populations in Thailand still face extinction risks due to opportunistic trappings.

Cites only allows trade of bred Arowanas but it is still profitable to catch wild stocks since there is little chance of detection. Shepherd says these are sold to breeders who grow the fish until they reach a size suitable for insertion of identifying microchips, thus legalising the aquarium trade.

His covert work in Indonesia – where exports of totally protected species are prohibited except for some species which are captive-bred – shows traders passing off wild caught reptiles as farmed ones by falsifying export permits. A commonly exploited species is the green tree monitor lizard.

“Some view captive-breeding as a conservation tool but without enforcement, regulation and monitoring, it is actually a threat to conservation of wildlife,” asserts Shepherd. “Countries like Malaysia, with a small and declining tiger population, should be wary of this and not support tiger-farming.”

Claims that farmed tigers will one day be placed into the wild will not happen as it would be too difficult and expensive. Scientists say released captive tigers lack hunting instincts and tend to venture into human settlements, leading to dire consequences.

Also, tiger farms breed for production rather than a healthy gene pool. At Xiong Sen Tiger and Bear Farm, in China, tiger experts found cross-breeding of the Amur, South China and Bengal tigers.

Garnering support

Pressured by farms with exploding captive tiger populations, and which want trade to resume, China is earnestly seeking support for its plan. Early this month, a delegation headed for India, home to the world’s largest wild tiger population. The Indian media reported lukewarm response from local officials. India has the most to lose if tiger trading is rekindled. It lost more than half of its big cats in the past decade to a growing thirst for pelts by ethnic groups in Tibet and Southern China.

If China gets its way, many think it will almost certainly hasten the species’ march toward extinction. Asia has already lost three of its nine tiger species – the Caspian, Balinese and Javanese tigers. The South China tiger appears to be next, with only 20 to 30 believed left in the wild.

Urging for the trade ban to stay, wildlife groups say the restriction has helped slow down illegal trade and in Russia, aided the Siberian tiger population to recover. “Without the bans, wild tigers would be worse off than they are today.

Existing bans can be even more effective with stepped-up, intelligence-led enforcement,” says the ITC.

For Dr Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist of World Wildlife Fund, a better way to conserve tigers is the simplest. “We have seen rapid recovery of fast-breeding tiger populations wherever they and their prey are protected and given adequate space.”

It is also vital to dispel beliefs that tiger products are needed for health and sacred cultural practices, for if the nouveau riche of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia start acquiring a taste for tiger wine, penis and skins, then even all the tiger farms in China may not be able to satiate their appetites.

Those demands must be wiped out if wild tigers are to continue prowling the forest.

Saving an endangered species in Asia

Jerry Harmer
Canadian Press

Capturing a tiger on camera has always been Ed Pollard's goal, but now it's a necessity. His Wildlife Conservation Society has staked its prestige on a pledge to boost tiger numbers by half across six Asian sites over the next 10 years.

The Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in northeastern Cambodia is one of the locations. So collecting accurate data on tiger numbers and food sources is crucial. The US$10-million initiative, called Tigers Forever, was officially launched in January.

As few as 5,000 tigers survive in the wild in Asia, down from some 100,000 a century ago. WCS's other targets for tiger conservation are in India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

For the Tigers Forever project, the New York-based group has 15 pairs of cameras covering paths and trails across nearly 210 square kilometres of the Cambodian forest's core. They are moved every few weeks, set in pairs because the stripes on a tiger are not symmetrical, and the animal must be photographed on both sides before identification is definite.

When the first films were collected last month, there was almost schoolboy-style excitement. The researcher who retrieved them reported a fresh tiger track on a trail leading straight to one of the cameras. But something must have lured the beast off the path before it broke the beam that would have triggered the cameras.

The conservation group has been operating here since 2002, the year it got its first and so far only tiger photo. But paw prints are found quite often, especially in the softer ground during the rainy season, and there have been regular sightings. Native tracker Den Amboyn says he came face to face with a tiger on a logging road last year. "I was scared but I managed to get away," he says.

Of all the sites in Asia, the Cambodian one has the fewest tigers, probably no more than 10. But country director Joe Walston is confident of hitting the target, in part because the zone has plenty of prey. "As tiger habitat it's close to optimal," he says.

Increased protection is part of the plan. Some of the Tigers Forever money will go toward building three more ranger stations at key points in the jungle over the next three years.

With every identified tiger now at a premium, Pollard is tantalized by a story told by the forest-dwelling Phnong people, who say they know of a tiger that lives in a cave but whose whereabouts can't be revealed because the wood is sacred.

Pollard has spent many hours poring over maps, trying to find it. "I think I know where it is now," he says, "or at least I think I'm getting close."

Tigers in the eye of Vietnam conservation storm

Ngo Duy Tan, a businessman and owner of 24 tigers, holding one of the newly born cubs at his home in Southern province of Binh Duong, 21 March 2007. An emotional dispute over the fate of 41 captive tigers in Vietnam has pitted a beer company owner against a coalition of environmental groups who are describing it as a test case in conservation. (Photo: AFP)

29/03/07
by Frank Zeller
AFP

An emotional dispute over the fate of 41 captive tigers in Vietnam has pitted a beer company owner against a coalition of environmental groups who are describing it as a test case in conservation.

The headline-grabbing battle started more than two weeks ago when the prime minister ordered authorities to take action against four families who were keeping the endangered cats in unofficial private zoos near Ho Chi Minh City.

Since then the tigers have rarely been out of the news as the owners have fought back, claiming they are taking better care of the tigers than the government could in its poorly-funded zoos.

Spokesman of the group Ngo Duy Tan, owner of Pacific Brewery, and of 24 tigers, has drawn much public support while threatening to sue for libel those who have accused him of breaking the law.

Many Vietnamese have backed him in the media, and ex-prime minister Vo Van Kiet said Tan should be applauded for helping conserve the species, despite the fact he has contravened international treaties.

As Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to make a final decision, a coalition of environmental groups has written to him, demanding that Vietnam enforce its laws, confiscate the endangered cats and punish the owners.

"The public should be left without doubt that no one should be allowed to keep tigers as pets or breed this endangered species and that all effort should be focussed on the conservation of this animal in the wild," they said.

The group includes the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, the World Conservation Union, Fauna and Flora International and local groups Wildlife At Risk and Education for Nature.

The coalition pointed to reports that the tigers were illegally trafficked from neighbouring Cambodia, breaching the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which Vietnam ratified in 1994.

The treaty aims to stop the use of wildlife products, mainly in traditional Chinese medicine and as food, an illegal trade in which Vietnam is both a destination country and trans-shipment hub to China and beyond.

The environmental groups stressed that habitat degradation and fragmentation, hunting and the illegal wildlife trade had pushed tigers "close to extinction in Vietnam" with only about 100 left in the wild.

They also rejected claims that the tigers were being bred for conservation purposes, saying their genetic origin was unknown and that there have been no known successful introductions of captive tigers into the wild.

The letter was immediately leaked to the media, fuelling the heated debate, and Tan has since threatened to sue the groups for having "seriously hurt his dignity, honour and prestige".

Amid the row, all sides admit there are few good options.

Releasing the animals into the wild is not feasible since few virgin forests remain, the tigers are not accustomed to fending for themselves, they would be under threat from poachers, and would present a danger to humans.

Giving them to a zoo is equally tricky since no facility in Vietnam exists that could absorb more than three dozen tigers.

A third option mentioned by officials would be to euthanise them, a step certain to cause a public outcry.

For now, the fate of the tigers is in limbo amid signs Hanoi's stance has softened since newspapers and TV crews stormed the tiger farms and reported how well the animals were being cared for.

Tan said he bought five ailing tiger cubs in 2000 and bred them to a group of 24 now, claiming he was motivated by his love of the animals, not profit.

He said he had kept provincial authorities informed all along and applied to set up a conservation park but received no response.

"I am just an ordinary man who wants to protect the animals from being killed," he told AFP. "I have created a friendly environment for the tigers. Each month, I spend 100 million dong (6,200 dollars) on them."

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat, who oversees the forest protection department that is meant to police the illegal wildlife trade, visited last week and reportedly said he was impressed at "how healthy the tigers are".

Many letters to newspapers also backed Tan, the tiger man.

"Those who proposed the confiscation of the tigers should go into early retirement," fumed reader Thien Phat.

"The prime minister should think carefully before making a decision if he does not want to upset and lose his prestige before the people."

For their part, the six conservation groups are trying to agree on a publicly acceptable solution while getting their message across.

"This is a tipping point for conservation," said Sulma Warne, Greater Mekong coordinator of TRAFFIC. "If inappropriate decisions are made here, we're setting a precedent for other endangered species."

Wildlife organizations: Tigers in captivity in Vietnam may be illegally imported from Cambodia

Tigers in Binh Duong (Photo: Thai Thien)

26/03/2007
Binh Duong tigers in controversy

VietNamNet Bridge - Six wildlife protecting organisations have sent a letter to Vietnamese authorities, saying that the tigers in Binh Duong province may have been illegally imported from Cambodia.

The six organisations comprising the World Wildlife Fund (WFF), Wildlife at Risk (WAR), the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Education for Nature (ENV) and Fauna and Flora International (FFI) have sent the letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, and Head of the Vietnam Forest Protection Agency Ha Cong Tuan.

According to those organisations, breeding tigers without clear origin is a violation of Decree 82 of the Vietnamese Government, dated August 10, 2006.

Under Decree 82/2006/ND/CP, no organisation and individual is allowed to transport or breed in cages animals of the 1B group, including tigers, without the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Representatives of the six organisations reason that there is no foundation to say that the tigers are being bred in cages for the purpose of preservation. So far there has been no case in which bred tigers have been able to live in their natural environment after they were released.

International wildlife protection experts said that the genes of those tigers were not defined and they were not in the tiger-breeding programme for preservation in the world. As a result, those tigers don’t have any value in terms of gene preservation.

As Vietnamese authorities confirm that the tiger breeding case in Binh Duong is illegal, those organisations request that the subjects involved in illegally importing those tigers be prosecuted and punished under Decree 82.

They also ask that if tiger breeders are charged with having violated the law, they have to bear expenses related to confiscation, transportation and taking care of those tigers till they die naturally.

Those tigers would be confiscated and transferred to wildlife rescue areas or zoos, which are fully equipped.

An international organisation has expressed its desire to help the Vietnamese government to build and manage a new reserve to rear tigers in Binh Duong.

“We emphasise that this is a significant opportunity for the Vietnamese government to state that the trading and breeding in cages of protected animals in any form will be not tolerated. This is also an opportunity for Vietnam to prove to the international community that Vietnam has a firm and clear-cut stand on such issues and is ready to act to affirm that stand,” the letter says.

Thus, the opinion of some international organisations is contrary to Vietnamese public opinion.

On March 22, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat made a sudden visit to the tiger breeding zone of Ngo Duy Tan and praised the number-one tiger breeder of Vietnam.

The Minister said that he came to the tiger farm to witness how the tigers were being bred and to know the opinion of Mr Tan.

He discussed three options: (1) confiscate and cull the tigers; (2) confiscate and breed them in cages for releasing into nature; (3) tigers that are bred from the forest will be confiscated and the remaining tigers will still be bred by the current owners. Tiger owners are not allowed to trade tigers of the F1 generation. Tigers of the F2 generation and upwards are permitted to be traded.

According to Mr Phat, it is difficult to use the first measure in both will and sentiment so only the third one is feasible. The issue is how to complete the legal formalities and ensure good conditions for the tigers to develop.

The Minister said that anyone who breeds tigers to rescue and preserve them must be respected.

On March 23, representatives of related agencies agreed that the tigers in Binh Duong would be confiscated but the current breeders would be temporarily allowed to continue breeding them.

They once again confirmed that purchasing and breeding tigers in cages violated Vietnam’s regulations and was not suitable to international conventions that Vietnam had signed.

However, to encourage organisations and individuals to take part in protecting and developing wildlife under the laws, they suggested confiscating tigers without clear origin to transfer to subjects that are able to take care of them for preservation purposes.

They suggested that the current breeders be allowed to continue breeding the tigers temporarily. The Vietnam Forest Protection Agency will help breeders fulfill necessary formalities under the law and set up files to manage confiscated tigers.

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The tiger breeder, Ngo Duy Tan, who is breeding 23 tigers, said that because of the dangerous situation of the tigers he asked the permission of Binh Duong Province’s Party Secretary to breed them and hadn’t yet asked for a licence from the Vietnam Forest Protection Agency.

“I agree if I’m accused of not fulfilling legal procedures, not violating the laws,” he said.

He confirmed that the first purpose of breeding those tigers was for humanitarian reasons. However, in the long term, as the herd of tigers develops, business must be considered, he said. Previously, Head of the Vietnam Forest Protection Agency Ha Cong Tuan said that if those tigers were recognised legally, tigers of the F2 generation could be traded.

Mr Tan affirmed that he bred the tigers for protection only. According to him, protection is to help tigers not to be harmed or killed. Decree 32 encourages everybody to protect wildlife.

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Should not take advantage of power to persecute tiger breeders: former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet

I’ve directed relevant bodies to deal with some tiger breeding cases. Through the media I know that public opinion doesn’t agree with some measures of state agencies. It is important that measures are appropriate to moral standards and the law as well as suitable to Vietnam’s situation.

Vietnam attaches special importance to protecting wildlife, especially rare and valuable animals. However, as the implementation is poor, the forest is being destroyed and rare animals are facing extinction.

We must accept the fact that state agencies don’t have effective measures to prevent this and don’t have policies to encourage people to take care of wild animals, especially rare animals.

Models of breeding and developing wild animals (bears, tigers, crocodiles) are new and good in general. If the awareness of protecting and preventing the hunting of wild animals and encouraging people to breed them under the policy of preservation and development is grasped thoroughly in management and the whole society, the danger of the extinction of rare animals will decline.

The law exists, but it doesn’t satisfy all actual requirements of life. I’ve carefully read two decrees of the government, 139/2004/ND-CP and 32/2006/ND-CP, and found out that there are many actual issues that the law doesn’t cover.

It is time to amend and supplement the law in accordance with the facts; ensure the law, and convene the people who deserve well of wild animals and public opinion.

I see the only suitable measure is that state bodies licence those who take good care of tigers and help them take even better care of the animals.

In my opinion, there is no reason to consider the case of Mr Tan (Ngo Duy Tan) to be illegal because he has reported to the direct authorities and publicly bred the tigers for years.

Through the press I know that the relevant ministry had a meeting with related agencies and accused tiger breeders in Binh Duong of violating the law and suggested confiscating the tigers. If it is true, this is the behavior in which state agencies use their power on not only tiger breeders but also on public opinion. It proves that they don’t believe in the inferior agencies and the people who have witnessed the case from the beginning (the people in Binh Duong).

I have also heard that someone threatened that ‘illegal’ tiger breeders would be inspected by international organisations. I think international organisations set regulations to protect, preserve and develop wild animals as the ultimate goal.

I think if they come to Vietnam to see the model in which people voluntarily devote their effort, sentiment and money to animals, I would be proud to introduce those families to the world.

I hope that leaders at the highest level of the country will have a clear-cut conclusion about this issue soon.

On this occasion, I want to mention a similar case that happened long ago in Dak Lak Province. A man named Tran Nhi rescued tens of wild animals, which were about to be killed as meat and brought them home to take care of them along with his mother. This job is known by both relevant bodies and residents.

But around ten years later, those animals were confiscated, reasoning illegal origin. Mr Nhi lodged a complaint and he was immediately prosecuted and banned from leaving his residence. His mother passed away in sadness. Mr Nhi has appealed to the court but the courts of two levels have rejected his appeal and he is now waiting for the conclusion of the People’s Supreme Court. I propose the People’s Supreme Court inspect and solve the case and make public the results.

Camera-trapping tigers vital to saving endangered species in Asia

Thursday, March 1, 2007
The Associated Press

KEO SEIMA, Cambodia: Capturing a tiger on camera has always been Ed Pollard's goal, but now it's a necessity. His Wildlife Conservation Society has staked its prestige on a pledge to boost tiger numbers by half across six Asian sites over the next 10 years.

The Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in northeastern Cambodia is one of the locations. So collecting accurate data on tiger numbers and food sources is crucial. The $10 million initiative, called Tigers Forever, was officially launched in January.

As few as 5,000 tigers survive in the wild in Asia, down from some 100,000 a century ago. WCS's other targets for tiger conservation are in India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

For the Tigers Forever project, the New York-based group has 15 pairs of cameras covering paths and trails across nearly 80 square miles of the Cambodian forest's core. They are moved every few weeks, set in pairs because the stripes on a tiger are not symmetrical, and the animal must be photographed on both sides before identification is definite.

When the first films were collected last month, there was almost schoolboy-style excitement. The researcher who retrieved them reported a fresh tiger track on a trail leading straight to one of the cameras. But something must have lured the beast off the path before it broke the beam that would have triggered the cameras.

The conservation group has been operating here since 2002, the year it got its first and so far only tiger photo. But paw prints are found quite often, especially in the softer ground during the rainy season, and there have been regular sightings. Native tracker Den Amboyn says he came face to face with a tiger on a logging road last year. "I was scared but I managed to get away," he says.

Of all the sites in Asia, the Cambodian one has the fewest tigers, probably no more than 10. But country director Joe Walston is confident of hitting the target, in part because the zone has plenty of prey. "As tiger habitat it's close to optimal," he says.

Increased protection is part of the plan. Some of the Tigers Forever money will go toward building three more ranger stations at key points in the jungle over the next three years.

With every identified tiger now at a premium, Pollard is tantalized by a story told by the forest-dwelling Phnong people, who say they know of a tiger that lives in a cave but whose whereabouts can't be revealed because the wood is sacred.

Pollard has spent many hours poring over maps, trying to find it. "I think I know where it is now," he says, "or at least I think I'm getting close."