Source : ZeeNews, India, 08 Aug '07
By : Bureau Report
  

New Delhi, Aug 03: Opposing legalising of trade in tiger parts as a measure to protect the endangered animal, wildlife conservationists today claimed that it was the growing demand for tigers in China which had fuelled the decline of the species in India through poaching.

"China has repeatedly said that it wants to open tiger trade and promote tiger farming," wildlife activist Belinda Wright said here at the release of the report 'The roar of the tigers' by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

She, however, asserted that this would not help in conserving the species as it was cheaper to poach tigers than rear them.

"People anyway prefer wildlife species for medicinal purposes and they are considered to be more potent," Wright said.

"The declining tiger population in China in the 1990s had led to smugglers and poachers eyeing the Indian tigers and this resulted in a drastic drop in the tiger population in this country," she said.

Agreeing that India needs to take urgent steps to tackle the "severest ever" crisis on the tiger front, the experts asked the country to approach China to sort out the issue.

On the steps taken by India to prevent the dip in the tiger population, they said the enforcement of anti-poaching laws needs to be strengthened by operationalising the Wildlife Crime Bureau on a priority basis.

"There needs to be a dialogue with China on a continuous basis on the issue of tiger trade, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to oppose any rethink on their domestic ban on tiger derivatives and parts," they said.

"State governments need to be supported to strengthen the enforcement machinery, with a special grant on the lines of the police modernisation programmes for insurgency and other civil unrest affected areas," Nirmal Ghosh of the Corbett Foundation said.

Citing the example of Thailand and China where crocodile or alligator farming has not help conserve the species, he said, "similarly we cannot conclude that tiger farming would help protect the big cats".

"Current indications show that the tiger population of India at present is around 1,300-1,500 which is really dismal," Ghosh said.

According to Samir Sinha of Traffic India, "Commercial tiger breeding has found to have no effect on conservation".

The experts also said that the forthcoming Tribal Affairs Bill could also pose a problem for the conservation of tigers as it would lead to a competition for resources among humans and the wildlife.

"It can have the most adverse impact on the tigers. The actual legal cover for conservation would go," Sinha said.