The Fund for the Tiger Newsletter Number 9 Summer, 2005

 

Dear Friends:

 

INDIA:

Since 1996 we have been assisting the WPSI in its biggest and most aggressive project:   Poaching and Trade.  Every wildlife crime brought to its attention is investigated.  Informants work to gather leads which have led to sting operations and many arrests of those involved in wildlife crimes.  The WPSI has been working closely with the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation the past few years on many such operations to disrupt the wildlife criminals.  The WPSI has documented the deaths of 719 tigers and 2474 leopards between 1994 and 2004.

In 1998, we partnered with Barbara Horton to donate the lovely elephant Sonakali to be used in the patrolling and protection of Sonanadhi Sanctuary and Corbett Tiger Reserve.  We continue to fund her general support of food and equipment required to do her job as supervised by Brijendra Singh, Honorary Warden of Corbett Tiger Reserve.

In the summer of 2001 we began the support of a permanent representative living in the Bandhavgarh area.  His job is to increase the awareness of the importance of tiger conservation in the local villages, to work with local officials to gather tiger poaching information, and keep close tabs on the many wildlife crime cases in the city of Katni.  He works very closely with the WPSI main operative for Central India.  There have been some losses at Bandhavgarh but tigers continue to flourish in the main Tala area.  Tigers do not overcrowd and disperse into new habitat as they mature.  Though there is good tiger habitat surrounding Bandhavgarh, the corridors are weak, poorly protected, and there are over 70 villages in and around the greater Bandhavgarh area.  The effort to relocate some villages around Bandhavgarh is ongoing but sadly mired in bureaucracy and corruption.

In January of 2001 we funded a Wildlife Crime Workshop at Bandhavgarh and in September of 2002 another workshop in the city of Katni.  Katni is a notorious hub of wildlife crime and a major railway junction through India.  As a result of these workshops, the WPSI has developed a good working relationship with the police and forest staff at Bandhavgarh and its adjoining areas, which are of great benefit for protecting tigers and other wildlife.

India was hit with yet another major alarm call on the status of the tiger this past March.  It was suddenly disclosed that all the tigers at Sariska Tiger Reserve, where Project Tiger began in Rajasthan in 1973, had disappeared.  One year ago local officials claimed that there were 26 tigers and now there were none.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh responded to this scandal by creating a new tiger task force and proposed a special wildlife crime unit to protect India’s remaining tigers. 

After Sariska, rumors swirled about tiger losses at Ranthambhore, one of India’s best known and famous tiger reserves.  A special committee was established to conduct a census at Ranthambhore and the WPSI was asked to participate.  The WPSI was using a revolutionary new method of tiger census developed by Sandeep Sharma using digital photography and computer software analysis called Pugmark 1.0.  Belinda Wright wrote to us  “I am convinced that once the software is proven in the field and accepted, it can be developed as an accurate, cost effective, field friendly and replicable monitoring protocol for tigers and other big cats.”  The Fund For The Tiger was pleased to fund this effort. 

The tiger census was a three-pronged effort.  The plaster cast and pugmark tracing method was conducted by the Forest Department, camera traps were used by the Wildlife Institute of India, and the Digital Pugmark technique was carried out by the WPSI.  The Ranthambhore Report arrived in July summarizing the results of the census. 26 tigers were identified- 6 males, 15 females, and 5 cubs.  The future of cubs beyond their dispersal age is at best uncertain so we now know that there are at least 21 adult tigers at Ranthambhore.  In 1997 I had a memorable drive through Ranthambhore with Belinda Wright and Fateh Singh Rathore, patriarch of Ranthambhore in its glory years as a prime tiger reserve.  As we sat in his jeep watching the magnificent Bakola tiger laze in a meadow, then get up and walk directly in front of us, I asked Fateh how many tigers were left.  “Six, maybe eight,” he said sadly, “but some cubs have been seen.”  So there is hope today, again.

There is some good news from India.  The notorious Sansar Chand was arrested again on June 30.  He is probably responsible for more tiger deaths than any living person in India and has been linked directly to the disappearing tigers of Sariska.  His family is also in jail on a variety of wildlife crime charges.  Hopefully his luck has finally run out.

NEPAL:

The political insurgency that is wreaking havoc throughout Nepal continues to make life hard on those working to protect its forests and animals.  Previous optimism about the effectiveness of anti-poaching work now seems overshadowed by the lack of protection.  The Royal Nepal Army, charged with protecting Nepal’s national parks, has closed and consolidated their posts, down to only 7 from 32, in their battle with the Maoist insurgency which surrounds much of Royal Chitwan National Park.  An ‘official’ rhino census held this past Spring reports that rhino numbers are down to 372 from 544 in the last census, but some are saying the number may be much lower.  Park officials are working under difficult conditions and we are continuing limited support for their patrolling and information gathering.  To their credit they have made 56 arrests of rhino poachers in the past year but are unarmed and travel cautiously in fear of land mines.

There is some good news coming out of Chitwan.  A major sting operation has led to the arrest of a significant rhino poaching gang.  Eight arrests were announced on July 20 along with the alleged kingpin- Pemba Lama.  A source has told me that Lama has confessed to selling 50 rhino horns to Tibetans in the past 4 years!  It is a known fact the some in the Tibetan community in exile across South Asia are involved in wildlife crime.  The Dalai Lama issued a strong statement in April calling for the end to illegal wildlife trafficking and urging Tibetans everywhere to respect the sanctity of all life and refrain from involvement in this trade.

We continue to support the anti-poaching work of Tikaram Adhikari, Warden at Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in Western Nepal.  In 1993, McDougal and I spent a day with Tikaram when he was Assistant Warden at Chitwan.  Our visit included an impromptu visit to the local jail in Bharatpur and an interview with tiger and rhino poachers.  It was his fearless and infectious enthusiasm for protecting Nepal’s endangered animals and their habitat that convinced me to get involved in tiger conservation.

Over the years we have assisted Chuck McDougal’s camera trapping/tiger census project.  Over 1000 pictures of 103 different tigers have been recorded at Royal Chitwan National Park in the past nine years.  Several years ago McDougal wrote to us... “thanks to your assistance Nepal has a better knowledge of the status of its tigers than any other country in Asia.”

Bhim Gurung, formerly of Tiger Tops and now with the University of Minnesota, has established an ambitious network of 30 informants, ranging from Sukla Phanta in the Far West to Kosi Thappu in the East.  These bagh heralus (tiger watchers) as he calls them, live in the critical areas between the tigers protected habitat and provide information about the presence or absence of the tiger, its prey species, and general health of the habitat.  We continue to assist in the funding of this project.  Wildlife conservation officials in Nepal have praised Bhim’s project as providing the “best data on continuity and gaps in tiger habitat throughout Nepal.”

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Postscript:

 

From an old Newsletter and still true today:

 

That there is no local market for this decimation of the natural heritage of South Asia must not be forgotten. People in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh do not believe in the efficacy of tiger bone medicine; do not believe that tiger penis soup is an aphrodisiac; do not believe that tiger and leopard claws worn as jewelry give you courage; do not believe that tiger or leopard bones worn as an amulet can bring good luck; do not believe that sitting on tiger skins can prevent fevers caused by evil spirits; and do not want to adorn their offices, dens, and fireplaces with finely tanned tiger and leopard skins. The sad truth is that animals internationally declared as protected and endangered by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) are being slaughtered. The great tiger reserves of India and Nepal have become shopping malls to satisfy beliefs and customs of those thousands of miles away. Centuries of beliefs and customs empowered by myth die hard, but it is our belief that if the tiger is left in peace, with a reasonable amount of protected habitat, it will indeed survive as the most powerful and vibrant animal to ever grace the forests and jungles of Asia.

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It’s now 2005 and where do we go from here? In a world gone mad- September 11th, Iraq, the sad suffering going on in Nepal, now Hurricane Katrina- one can be forgiven for shrugging their shoulders and not caring about the animal world. Without going into the bio-ecological arguments about why our forests and animals are important to the health of our planet, we firmly believe that the animal kingdom was meant to remain in The Intended Big Picture and not subject to the myopic whim of human folly. When the last tiger crisis erupted in the early 1990’s there were fears that tigers in the wild may not last into this century. That has not happened because there are people out there working to make a difference- some very public and some in the shadows. The tiger has shown resilience in the past and will do so again if left alone. As long as there are tigers roaming the forests and jungles of Asia, as long as there are people working under extremely difficult and often dangerous conditions to protect them and their habitat, The Fund For The Tiger will continue to help.

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"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."

William Beebe

 

Gratitudes:

 

• Thanks to Mountain Travel/Sobek for continuing to operate and donate all profits from their Save The Tiger trip to The Fund For The Tiger.  The trip, which visits Bandhavgarh National Park in India and Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal, is an excellent way for people to travel into the heart of tiger country, see a tiger in the wild, and make a significant contribution to tiger conservation work.  I created this trip in 1994 in my job as Trip Leader and it has raised over $80,000 for tiger conservation.  I will lead the next Save The Tiger trip March 16-April 2, 2006.  The uncertain political situation in Nepal will not affect this departure.  And second tiger reserve will be added in India if necessary.  Information about this trip, a detailed itinerary, and a slide show of photos I have taken while on the trip, can be found on the MTS website [mtsobek.com].
   

• Thanks to The American Himalayan Foundation for its generous gift which helps sustain our support for anti-poaching patrols and tiger habitat protection throughout Nepal.
   

• Thank you to John Lyddon and the Seven Springs Foundation for a generous gift to allow us to continue funding aggressive tiger conservation work in India and Nepal.
   

• A very special heartfelt thank you to David Bonderman and The American Himalayan Foundation for David’s generous gift to fund our Wildlife Crime Nepal project.
   

• To our Webmeister, Dr. John Mordes, my gratitude for establishing our web site and continuing to update it from time to time.  All of our Newsletter are there.  Look for it at: www.thefundforthetiger.org

 

 

JAIBAGH- the email address of The Fund For The Tiger, means “long live the tiger” in the Nepali language.

 

 

If you wish to help, please send your contribution to The Fund For The Tiger at P. O. Box 2, Woodacre, California, 94973. The Fund For The Tiger is a non-profit tax exempt public charity registered in the State of California. Your contribution is deductible for tax purposes within the limits of the law.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Brian K. Weirum

Chairman

The Fund For The Tiger

 

 

Page last updated September 17, 2005

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