Tiger Parts Research Articles

Assessing the conservation status of the tiger Panthera tigris at priority sites in Peninsular Malaysia

AbstractWildlife managers require status and distribution information for informed decisions. Recognizing the tiger's globally threatened status and potential as an umbrella species for protection of forested landscapes, camera trap surveys for tigers and other large mammals have been conducted since 1997 in Peninsular Malaysia with the aim of assessing the population status of tigers in the Peninsula. Results from surveys at nine sites between December 1997 and December 1999 are reported here. Tigers were confirmed from six sites in the Main Range and Greater Taman Negara landscape, with multiple locations inside putative priority tiger areas. Although the data were collected 8 years ago, they are supplemented with more recent information, including tiger-human conflict investigations during 2000–2005 that indicate tiger persistence at these sites. Tiger density estimates were 0.51–1.95 tigers per 100 km2. With results from other surveys, this suggests a national population of up to several hundred tigers. A thorough survey, with sufficient resources, should be carried out in the future to derive a more reliable tiger population estimate for Malaysia. Key threats are habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting of prey, commercial trade in tiger parts, and harassment and displacement. Recommendations for the recovery of tigers in Peninsular Malaysia are provided.

Spatial viability analysis of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica in the Russian Far East: the role of protected areas and landscape matrix in population persistence

Summary The Amur or Siberian tiger Panthera tigris altaica forms a relatively small and disjunct population of less than 600 individuals in the Russian Far East. Because tigers in this region require large territories to acquire sufficient prey, current strictly protected areas, comprising 3·4% (10 300 km2) of the region, are unlikely to prevent extirpation of the subspecies in the face of expanding forestry and external demand for tiger parts. We used resource selection function models and spatially explicit population models to analyse the distribution and predict the demographic structure of the population to identify policy options that may enhance population viability. A resource selection function model developed from track distribution data predicted that tigers were most likely to occur in lower altitude valley bottoms with Korean pine forest and low human impacts. The results from the spatially explicit population model suggested that current tiger distribution is highly dependent on de facto refugia with low human impacts but without statutory protection, and that small increases in mortality in these areas will result in range fragmentation. Although an expanded reserve network only marginally increases tiger viability under current conditions, it dramatically enhances distribution under potential future scenarios, preventing regional extirpation despite a more hostile landscape matrix. The portion of tiger range most resistant to extirpation connects a large coastal reserve in the central portion of the region with largely unprotected watersheds to the north. A southern block of habitat is also important but more severely threatened with anthropogenic disturbances. The results suggest that preserving source habitat in these two zones and ensuring linkages are retained between blocks of habitat in the north and south will be critical to the survival of the tiger population. Synthesis and applications. Conservation priorities identified in this analysis differ from those suggested by a conservation paradigm focusing only on sustaining and connecting existing protected areas that has been applied to tiger conservation in more developed landscapes with higher prey densities. An alternative paradigm that assesses population viability in a whole‐landscape context and develops priorities for both protected area expansion and increasing survival rates in the landscape matrix may be more appropriate in areas where tigers and other large carnivores coexist with low‐density human populations. Although landscape connectivity merits increased emphasis in conservation planning, identification of landscape linkages should be tied to broad‐scale recommendations resulting from spatial viability analyses in order to prevent misdirection of resources towards protecting corridors that add little to population persistence.

Individualization of tiger by using microsatellites

In investigating criminal cases of poaching and smuggling involving tigers ( Panthera tigris), the number of tiger individuals involved is critical for determining the penalty. Morphological methodologies do not often work because tiger parts do not possess the distinctive characteristics of the individual. Microsatellite DNAs have been proved a reliable marker for the individualization of animals. Seven microsatellite loci derived from domestic cat ( Felis catus) were selected to individualize tigers, namely F41, F42, F146, Fca304, Fca391, Fca441 and Fca453. A reference population containing 37 unrelated tigers were used to investigate alleles, allelic frequencies, genotypes and genotype frequencies of each locus. Consequently, the data was used to assess the validity of the combination of seven loci for tiger individualization. All loci were polymorphic and easy to amplify. Three out of the seven loci were significantly departure from the Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium ( P < 0.05). Cumulative discrimination power (DP) calculated with observed genotype frequencies was 0.99999789. Match probability of an individual in the reference population with a random individual in seven loci ranged from 7.34 × 10 −9 to 2.77 × 10 −5. This suggests that combining the seven microsatellite loci provides desirable power to individualize tigers. The combination of seven loci was applied to a case of tiger bone smuggling. Genotypes of all samples were identical in all seven loci, and the P M of the evidence samples in the seven loci hit 5.63 × 10 −7, provided evidence that the bones belong to a single tiger.

Tiger, Humans, and the Face of Conservation

Tiger, Humans, and the Face of Conservation

RAPID CHANGES COME TO CHINA

Only 10 years ago, going to China was a serious adventure. Telephones were rare and often did not work, flights were delayed, and even in the largest cities on the coast foreign visitors attracted the attention usually given to zoo animals. Bicycles dominated the roads. A common form of transportation in Beijing was a three-wheel peddle bike; in Shanghai, where one could purchase tiger parts at the bund, motorized rickshaws outnumbered taxis. China was a backward place, and multinational corporations considered posting their executives in Shanghai or Beijing to be a hardship. In the space of a few years, China has accomplished astonishing changes, especially in the large cities on the coast. The pace of modernization has been so rapid that even Washington, D.C., Tokyo, or Hong Kong are left behind in some respects. Many of the largest cities' roads, highways, bridges, phone lines, and airports— as well as sewers and even trash cans—are brand ...

Saving the Tiger: More Money or Less Power?

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) at the Bronx Zoo, New York, has recently released a policy analysis entitled Saving the Tiger: a Conservation Strategy (Norchi & Bolze 1995). The conservation community needs be aware of this report because of the influence WCS and similar international agencies have on wildlife policy formulation throughout the world. (For example, WCS recently co-sponsored two biodiversity conferences attended by officials from China, India, Lao P. D. R., Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam discuss issues of biodiversity, including tiger conservation.) The elegantly produced report does two things: provides an analysis of the current threats tiger conservation worldwide and offers policy recommendations for more effective conservation of the big cat. Trade in tiger parts and continuing human pressures on tiger habitat are seen as the primary factors responsible for declining tiger numbers. Key recommendations of the report include improved law enforcement, the eviction of humans from tiger habitat, and conservation education of consumers of tiger products and local communities living near tiger habitat. At the heart of the WCS report lies the suggestion that there is insufficient political commitment tiger conservation. The report cites Nepal's staggering annual expenditure of $5800 per square kilometer to protect and better manage Royal Chitwan National Park (p. 10) as an example of the kind of political commitment required for effective conservation in other parts of the tiger's range. Such expenditure is necessary conduct campaigns in consumer countries about the impact of the use of tiger products on tiger populations, a conservation focus that is essential, and one that I will not address further in this note. According the WCS report, money is also required educate local communities about the importance of tiger conservation; translocate human populations from within tiger reserves areas of less conservation importance; build walls and other deterrents keep local people and their cattle out of ti-

The illegal market in tiger parts in northern Sumatra, Indonesia

The Sumatran tiger is the only one of three original subspecies of tigers that survives in Indonesia today. Its wild population, estimated to be 400–650 animals, has progressively diminished because of habitat destruction, poaching and the removal of tigers involved in conflicts with local farmers. This paper presents previously undocumented information on the market in tiger products. It shows that, while no documentation of intentional tiger poaching to meet an international demand for tiger bones was recorded, the domestic demand for tiger bones, teeth and claws is still a potential threat to the future survival of this subspecies. In addition to continuing work to protect the integrity of tiger habitat in Sumatra, enforcement actions are required to prevent the domestic market for tiger parts increasing the threats to this subspecies and to ensure its conservation.

The illegal market in tiger parts in northern Sumatra, Indonesia

The Sumatran tiger is the only one of three original subspecies of tigers that survives in Indonesia today. Its wild population, estimated to be 400–650 animals, has progressively diminished because of habitat destruction, poaching and the removal of tigers involved in conflicts with local farmers. This paper presents previously undocumented information on the market in tiger products. It shows that, while no documentation of intentional tiger poaching to meet an international demand for tiger bones was recorded, the domestic demand for tiger bones, teeth and claws is still a potential threat to the future survival of this subspecies. In addition to continuing work to protect the integrity of tiger habitat in Sumatra, enforcement actions are required to prevent the domestic market for tiger parts increasing the threats to this subspecies and to ensure its conservation.