Thailand And The Tiger Cnference

[Bilqis]

The Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation finished on Friday with apparently no money and no concrete changes, but a lot of hot wind and rhetoric from some of the organisers and those attending – all united in one aim – to talk up the results.

The conference in Hua Hin brought together representatives from the 13 tiger range countries -- Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The World Bank is involved, the WWF etc etc – the total population of Tigers in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region is about 350!

and what of Thailand? What role do they play in this?

Of course they have hosted this conference and have made a lot of appropriate noises – they bask in the positive publicity of this conference – but what is Thailand (and Thai Authorities) actually doing?

The answer as ever is sadly almost nothing.

There are organisations in Thailand dedicated to saved this creature, but beset by lack of funds and corruption both within and without, they are virtually banging their heads against the wall......

WWF - "Thailand's Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Suwit Khunkitti ….......... "We shall reach up to the highest levels of our governments for support at the Year of the Tiger Heads of State Summit in Russia. Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger."

- and that means???????

Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF's Tiger Initiative, said: "We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger as represented by the tiger range countries' commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok."

- so lets procrastinate a little more then?

Thailand's ruling elite is happy to make the right noises, say all the right things, but when in comes to hard-core action they bow their heads reduce to muttering feeble excuses, procrastinations, and plain obstinacy and the result is not even a status quo, but a miserable slithery slide down the road towards the Tigers' extinction both at home and worldwide.

And corruption?

Keshav Varma, the programme director for the Global Tiger Initiative: -

"Corruption is gradually and persistently nibbling away at our natural resources,"

"The politics of money is drowning out the weak voices of the tiger and the poor."

… .and you know, I think some of those in high places will be relieved, that's one less issue they have to be publicly embarrassed about.

According to the WWF – in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region, The wild tiger population across Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam has dropped from an estimated 1,200 in 1998 -- the last Year of Tiger -- to around 350 today, according to the conservation group. That's a drop of 70%!

WWF - "Although Indochinese tigers were once found in abundance across the Greater Mekong region, the WWF says there are now no more than 30 tigers per country in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam." that leaves less than 200 in Burma and Thailand – the "Western Forests".

It had been proposed that whist the population is dwindling Thailand actually has – with proper organisation - suitable habitat to contain considerably more Tigers than it does at present.

The claim was made in 2007 that...."Thailand's Western Forest Complex can potentially support 2,000 tigers, making it one of the worlds strongholds for these emblematic big cats." - this study was by The study, conducted by Thailand's Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation and the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society,

Apart from being a magnificent animal in their own right, tigers are a crucial link in the overall ecosystem, and perform a vital role in maintaining bio-diversity in the forested areas on Thailand.

BUT - In the end it may be that we have to turn to zoos for animals or their genes to repopulate – so where can we turn? Not it would seem to the Tiger Temple at Kanchanaburi who have been running an illegal breeding program of there own for the past decade, which has been supplying tigers to - well WHERE??? ….. they are no longer at the temple. Are they a farm?? - in China farms have been developed to attract tourists but critics say they are used to harvest tiger parts.

Environmentalists claim allowing tiger farms to exist only encourages smuggling......

Keshav Varma, the programme director for the Global Tiger Initiative: -

"Our position is that tiger farms as an animal practice are cruel. They fan the potential use of tiger parts," said

"That is extremely dangerous because that would continue to spur demand."

.....it is cheaper to kill a wild animal than to raise a tiger on a farm. The parts are indistinguishable.

At the Tiger Temple, (Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery in Kanchanaburi,) the program of breeding was apparently unsanctioned and there were no official records. This means that we don't know whether the sub-species have been crossed – making them useless for conservation, or whether the animals are interbred – i.e. to close relatives which weakens the gene-pool. They would be fine for Tiger parts as used in Chinese medicine though.

Why they are continuing to breed these animals is unclear – but I'm sure they'll be happy that China has successfully removed any reference in the draft declaration that called for maintaining a permanent ban on the tiger trade.

All this means whilst the population of tigers in the wild is in crisis the Temple has been doing what? Nothing – in fact they have been interfering with the gene-pool of an extremely endangered species and breeding/keeping these creatures purely for their own purposes – which appear to be the generation of money for their own personal benefit.

According to the Guardian UK - At the conference the Asian Nations and Russia have vowed "to work to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, crack down on poaching that has devastated the big cats and prohibit the building of roads and bridges that could harm their habitats." ….. "However, the historic declaration adopted by the 13 countries that have wild tigers includes no new money to finance the conservation efforts"......

But Thailand has already failed once to take action on the Temple citing lack of finance to rehouse the animals or take over the place as one of the reasons.

The Guardian quotes Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti -

"This is a historic meeting. Before this, not many people paid attention to tigers," …......... "Stopping the depletion of tigers is a very important issue for all of us."

- yet another comment without any teeth or commitment from Thailand.

"not many people paid attention to Tigers" – really? – what sort of person especially a Minister of Natural Resources and Environment would have that as a serious perspective?

Presumably he'd never heard of the Thai study back in 2007....or any other studies?

Another institution that Thailand refuses to investigate is the Sri Racha tiger Zoo (is it a farm? Is it a zoo?) – where you can see Tiger cubs being suckled by other animals -

The BBC was told by Judy Mills of Conservation International that …..

"according to her research, farm tigresses produce cubs at about three times or more their natural rate, bearing up to three litters a year. Cubs are often taken away from their mothers before they are properly weaned.

These cubs, she says, are usually made to suckle from other animals, such as pigs or dogs - their "wet nurse surrogates" - so that the tigresses can produce more young."

… ..so why is the Sri Racha zoo engaging in this practice?

The Bangkok Post reports...

"Signatories of the Hua Hin Declaration on Tiger Conservation agreed to launch campaigns to tackle the demand for tiger body parts and to build support for the initiative to increase the number of tigers living in the wild.

They also agreed to crack down on and, if possible, eliminate the illegal supply of tigers and tiger body parts through more effective legislation and law enforcement at both the national and international level."

So what is going to be done about the Tiger Temple and the Sri Racha zoo? Or will the will to do anything fade away along with the delegates of the conference? It's hard to see any benefits for conservation serves by these places – eco-tourism they are not, a tax on their activities? But first a thorough investigation into both places, surely?

Meanwhile, back at the conference.....

""We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok," said Michael Baltzer, from the conservation agency WWF, adding he was "delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger".

OK - until Vladivostok, then!

….........So what's the betting that in the next year – the YEAR OF THE TIGER - "to Vladivostok" enters the English language as a new word meaning "say one thing do another"?

" Don't VLADIVOSTOK! Get on with it!"

[Curt1591]

Any sources or just your compilation?

[Bilqis]

Vladivostok town council and OED, next year's editon. The rest is there already

[yabaaaa]

Send em all to the tiger "sanctuary" in the other tiger thread?