Tiger in the bank

Abstract

According to the traditional Chinese calendar, we are now in the year of the tiger, which comes around every 12 years. This occasion has stimulated renewed efforts to improve conservation of the endangered species, of which only a few thousand individuals survive in the wild.Chris Packham, a British television natural history presenter, has now upset sensibilities surrounding the iconic species by saying in an interview with the Radio Times that the conservation effort is failing. “Tiger conservation is a multimillion-pound business that isn't working,” Packham told the magazine. “If it were in the FTSE 100, it would have gone bankrupt.”Habitat loss is partially to blame for the dramatic decline in tiger populations and the loss of three sub-species within the twentieth century. Another big part of the problem is the continuing demand for tiger products, mostly from China. It's not only the striped skin the buyers are after. Tiger bones are also a valuable ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. Scarcity and demand have driven the prices up so high that poaching has become attractive not only for impoverished local people but even well-organised and equipped criminal gangs.Conservationists are trying to redress the economic balance, as Packham explained: “One of the ways we've sought to protect tigers is to give them a dollar value through ecotourism and try to channel that money into local communities, but now I hear that some of the Indian authorities are trying to reduce this, which is worrying.” While conservation agencies were trying to do the right thing, Packham concluded, “the results are disastrous.”Packham, who previously went on record saying the giant panda should be left to its fate, clearly enjoys controversy, but he's not alone in finding fault with tiger conservation efforts. Back in March, Willem Wijnstekers, secretary general of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), declared: “If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator, then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail.”Meanwhile, the WWF insists that continuing to try to save the great cats remains an important priority. A WWF spokesman told the press: “WWF is deeply committed to tiger conservation because we believe the work we are doing has a genuine impact. Losses in many of the areas where we have been working are less severe than in unprotected areas — a clear sign that the situation is far from hopeless, provided we act now.”To mark the year of the tiger, the organisation has launched a “double or nothing” campaign aiming to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022 (the next year of the tiger). However, the organisation also admits that there is a real possibility that the species may disappear in the wild before its next appearance on the Chinese calendar.