Tigers 
Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and one of the most magnificent. Sadly they are also one of the most endangered members as well. At one time there were 8 subspecies of tiger, only 5 remain today.
The Tiger in History
The tiger has always been a creature of awe. The earliest
evidence comes from 5,000 years
ago, on seals of the Indus
Valley civilization of Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro, now located in modern-day Pakistan.
The tiger appears as a symbol of
beauty, power, and ferocity.
Hinduism’s female deity, Durga, is
depicted riding on a tiger.
In the 60-year cycle of Chinese and Tibetan calendars, the tiger is one
of the 12 animals which denote a year associated with each of the five
elements in turn – earth, iron, water, wood, and fire. In China, a boy born in the Year of
the Tiger is believed to have the power to ward off evil.
There may be only a few tigers in Korea, but the country is still called
the “Land of the Blue Dragon and White Tiger”. The dragon is the
guardian of the west and the tiger of the east.
Tiger Evolution
The tiger is thought to have evolved in what is now modern-day China, over a million years ago. The South China or Amoy
tiger, Panthera tigris amoyensis, retained some of the primitive skull features, including more forward-facing eye sockets and a small
brain case, which suggests that it is the direct descendant of the original species. From eastern Asia, tigers spread north into Siberia and
west, north of the Tibetan plateau, to reach the Caspian Sea and eastern Turkey. Others moved south into Southeast Asia, where some
crossed to the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Bali, while others pushed west into Burma and the Indian subcontinent.
Threats to Tiger Survival
Despite heavy hunting, tigers remained numerous through the 19th century. In 1900, there may have been 100,000 living in forests.
Today, in the year 2000, there remain less than 8,000. The main threats to tigers are poaching, habitat loss, population fragmentation,
high demand for body parts, the genetic threat, and weak law enforcement.
What Needs to be Done to Save the Tiger
The tiger is threatened almost exclusively by human action. It can only
be saved from extinction if effective measures are taken to combat the
threats listed above. Unless governments and other
decision-makers agree that the tiger must be saved, the efforts of the
conservation community can only have a delaying effect on the decline
of the tiger. There needs to be a three-fold process for preserving the current state of the tiger.
First, on the local level:
1.) Local institutions and people
Scientists who were closely involved in managing tigers at the local
level, Hemendra Panwar of India and Hemanta Mishra of Nepal,
pointed out an important lesson more than a decade ago: unless local
community needs are met, conservation of the tiger will not succeed
and protected areas will perish. Therefore, conservation programmes
must reconcile the interests of people and tigers. In most situations, a
sustainable tiger conservation strategy cannot be achieved without the
full participation and collective action of individual rural households
whose livelihoods depend on rights of access and use of the forests
where tigers live. In developing management plans for tiger habitats,
increased attention needs to be given to community-based action
through local institutions and user groups. These include, for example,
natural resource management groups, community organizations,
women’s associations and credit management associations.
2. Technologies for conservation of resources
There already exists a wide range of technologies and practices in
forest and watershed management and agriculture, both traditional and
new, for conservation of resources. The biological processes that
regenerate forests and make agriculture less damaging to tiger
habitats take time to become established. However, evidence
suggests that, when their rights of use are secure, and when given
appropriate incentives, people are capable of taking care of their
environment.
3. Use of external institutions
Institutions, such as NGOs, government departments, and banks, can
facilitate processes by which local people develop their sense of
ownership and commitment. When little effort is made to build local
skills, interest, and capacity, people have no interest or stake in
maintaining structures or practices once the incentives for
conservation stop. Success hinges on people’s participation in
planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, which leads to
the formation of new institutions or the strengthening of existing ones.
It is important to recognize that, despite modern science and
technology, much can be learned and used from traditional knowledge
and skills, which are based on familiarity with local conditions.
4. Environmental education
Along with
ecodevelopment,
education in sustainable
use of natural resources
is required. This must be
at all levels of the
community, and should
have a special focus on
urban dwellers. It should
include conducted visits
to the reserve where the
beauties of the flora and
fauna can be seen and
the functioning of
ecosystems can be
demonstrated. Pride in
nature needs to be encouraged in order to promote participation in
protecting it.
5. Sharing the benefits from tiger reserves
Revenue from ecotourism should be shared with local communities
who cooperate in protection and management of a reserve. This would
best be done by a special tax on hotels and tour operators, who are
presently the main beneficiaries of tiger tourism. The use of revenue to
provide amenities, and the development of local credit systems for
rural communities are two ways in which the benefits can be shared.
Today, very few reserves are able to offer a reasonable chance of
seeing a tiger, and stress should be laid on other charismatic animals,
such as elephants and rhinos, teeming birdlife, and dramatic scenery
to attract visitors.
6. Conservation of tiger habitat and of prey
In many areas peripheral to tiger habitat, grazing lands for livestock
have been converted to crops or degraded by excessive use; livestock
is of poor quality and of poor productivity; wood for fuel and building
has been exhausted; and sources of income are limited. The
rehabilitation of the natural resource base of local people is essential if
they are not to seek their requirements in protected areas. This
requires ecodevelopment with the support and cooperation of
specialized government organs and the non-governmental conservation
community. Programmes need to include medical facilities and health
education.
In order to prevent genetic deterioration in small, isolated tiger
populations, extensive areas of natural habitat, which are well stocked
with large prey, must be maintained. Given human pressures on
forests, it may not be possible to increase the size of many existing
reserves. But the situation can be ameliorated by maintaining corridors
between them to allow individuals to migrate and thus ensure a broad
genetic base.
On the national level:
The tiger’s legal status
must be upgraded.
Legislation for protection
of the tiger and other
wild species in some
range countries is
sometimes outdated and
inadequate. These laws
need to be revised.
Countries without
domestic legislation
must develop and
implement it. It is crucial
that governments play
an enabling role in supporting the development of conservation
strategies for the tiger and the habitats in which it lives. In order to
sustain actions at the local level, governments need to introduce an
appropriate range and mix of policy instruments and measures. They
could reform land rights and rights of use of forest products to give
guarantees to individuals and communities which allow them to
manage their resources. Governments could sign joint management
agreements with communities living in or around protected areas;
these co-management schemes would emphasize the twin goals of
conservation and security of livelihood. Governments could introduce
economic policy frameworks that would encourage the efficient use of
resources, particularly, but not exclusively, in the timber sector. They
could also strengthen actions that heavily penalize those who destroy
or degrade the environments where the last tigers are found.
In addition to introducing these supportive policies, state institutions
may need to change their organizational culture. Most government
departments, universities, planning and extension organizations tend
to have centralized and hierarchical authority. Specialized departments
rely on standardized procedures and modes of learning that result in
reception of misleading feedback from local situations. Unless they
change their bureaucratic nature, it will be difficult for state institutions
to work in ways that empower communities in the management of
conservation and natural resources. Furthermore, without these
organizational shifts, many of the local conflicts and poaching
activities that currently undermine the viability of tiger populations and
their habitats will probably persist.
On the international level:
Tiger populations do not recognize national borders, so that protective
action in one country may be undermined by a failure to match it in a
neighbouring country. Transborder cooperation by authorities at
national and local level is, therefore, essential.
Countries with tigers have limited financial resources, which have to be
used to tackle urgent, human-related concerns. The international
community, in effect Europe, North America, and Japan, has a duty to
provide financial and technical assistance to ensure that there are
sufficient, well-trained personnel to protect the tiger, a symbol and
heritage that belongs to the world.
The immediate threat to its survival is the continual demand for its
parts for use in oriental medicine. Thus, urgent steps must be taken to
stop the unprecedented pursuit and killing of the tiger. The tiger bone
trade must be shut down at international and national levels.
CITES, to which 130 governments are now Party, bans international
commerce in the tiger and its derivatives. But the effectiveness of the
ban rests on the actions of governments, who must have supporting
legislation, enforced by trained personnel. It depends not only on the
actions of range countries but of other countries which trade with
them. Bhutan, North Korea, and Laos should follow the example of
other range states and accede to CITES.
Effective substitutes for tiger-based medicines need to be identified by
consumers and producers of oriental medicine and their use promoted
by practitioners. Technical assistance must be given to consumer
countries, particularly in China, Taiwan, and Korea, to help customs
officials and police enforce national legislation and international
agreements, such as CITES.
In order to crack down on the illegal trade more effectively,
governments should follow the example of the USA, the United
Kingdom, and the Netherlands and make it a crime to trade in
products that claim to contain tiger derivatives.
Hope for the Future
Through the actions of conservationists, both in situ and ex situ, it is hoped that the light of the future has not gone out on the
five remaining subspecies of tiger.
