The Fund for the Tiger Annual Year End Newsletter December, 2005

Dear Online Friends:

Nepal’s pivotal role in the smuggling route to extinction has been confirmed again and again by events of the past year and highlights the importance of continuing the Wildlife Crime Project we began with the Wildlife Protection Society of India [WPSI] in December of 2004.  Even as I was finishing this past Summer Newsletter new and alarming information was coming in linking wildlife crime in India and Nepal and the illicit trade via Nepal to markets in Tibet and the Far East.

• In October of 2004 the London based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) issued a report entitled “The Tiger Skin Trade” which documented the alarming ten-fold increase in the trade of skins of endangered species.
   

• A N.Y.Times article in March of 2005 referred to India, Nepal and Tibet as the ‘poaching corridor’ for Asia’s endangered species.
  
   

• In August, four Indian nationals were arrested at the Lamjung Guest House in Kathmandu with two tiger skins and 103 pieces of tiger bones.  All four were ‘banjara’- forest people from Haryana State in Northern India.
   

• In September, a large haul of skins and bones were found at Syabru Besi, a largely Tibetan settlement on the Trisuli River at the entrance of Lantang National Park.  [5 tiger skins, 36 leopard skins, 238 otter skins and 113 kg of tiger bones].  The products were from India en route to Tibet
   

• Belinda Wright of the WPSI and investigators from the EIA visited China and Tibet in August and documented on a BBC special the extent of the current trade.  Shops openly displayed tiger and leopard skins for sale.  Festivals featured teachers and school children wearing tiger and leopard skins as part of their colorful attire.  Investigations showed that the skins came from India via Nepal.  Belinda counted 83 tiger skins.  Noted Indian tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar is quoted as saying,  “I didn’t know about the scale of the trade.  This is shocking, absolutely shocking.”  In Lhasa, 46 shops were surveyed finding 54 leopard skin chubas and 24 tiger skin chubas [chubas are the wrap around garments worn by most Tibetans].  7 fresh leopard skins and 3 fresh tiger skins were offered for sale within a 24 hour period.  On one street in Linxia, China, 60 snow leopards and 160 loepard skins were openly on display.  His Holiness the Dalai Lama has expressed concern over Tibetans being involved in smuggling and trading of wildlife skins and at an October gathering in Dharamsala, appealed to his people to refrain from using pelts of endangered species.

Since 1996 we have assisted the WPSI in their Poaching and Trade investigation project wherein all wildlife crimes are investigated and informants work with local officials resulting in the arrests of countless wildlife criminals.  Their latest investigations have proven a link between the poaching gangs and traders in Madhya Pradesh (Kanha and Bandhavgarh) and those in Rajasthan (Ranthambhore and Sariska).

Since 1998 we have supported the care of Sonakali, the elephant we donated to help patrol and protect Corbett Tiger Reserve in Northern India.  We also fund the patrols as supervised by Honorary Warden Brijendra Singh.

In 2001 we began the support of a permanent representative to be the ‘eyes and ears’ in and around the Bandhavgarh National Park area of Central India.

The political situation in Nepal has wreaked havoc on wildlife conservation and latest results indicate that rhinos are taking the biggest hit.  The Royal Nepal Army has abandoned many of its posts to consolidate their efforts against the Maoist insurgency leaving much of Nepal’s national parks vulnerable.  We are continuing limited and cautious support for information gathering and anti-poaching patrols at Royal Chitwan National Park and Royal Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve.  We have increased our support for the bagh heralus (tiger watchers) project wherein 30 individuals are working under difficult conditions to monitor the health of tiger habitat across the breadth of Nepal’s southern Terai.

In March of 2006 I will again be leading Mountain Travel Sobek’s Save The Tiger trip to Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India and Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal.  Contact me at any of the addresses on this letter if you are interested in riding elephants and jeeps in search of these magnificent animals up close and personal and meet those people working to save the tiger from extinction.

If you can assist is in our efforts to help the tiger and it’s habitat your contribution would be greatly appreciated.  Your donation is deductible for tax purposes within the limits of the law.

Warm regards and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Sincerely,

Brian K. Weirum
Chairman
The Fund For The Tiger

How to Help

If you can help in any way please send your contribution to The Fund For The Tiger at P. O. Box 2, Woodacre, California, 94973. Contributions are deductible for tax purposes within the limits of the law.

Page updated December 12, 2007

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