The principle cog in the food and ecological cycle, with every tiger gone, the entire country's survival is at stake. Beware India. Protect the big cat in the wild. Hardnews joins the campaign to protect the most majestic and magnificent creature in the animal kingdom
Akash Bisht Delhi
Akash Bisht Delhi
February 14 this year marked the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Ironically, the majestic species faces serious threats of extinction owing to a speculated increase in the obsessive and irrational Chinese demand for tiger parts in its namesake year.
Conservationists believe that the year poses direct, sinister and organised threat to tiger populations across the globe. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), during its investigation on the sale of tiger parts in China, confirmed with traders that the demand for tiger parts is bound to see an unprecedented surge.
Fuelled by robust economic growth and capitalism in fast-forward mode, conservationists fear China's insatiable demand for tiger parts could dangerously hamper India's tiger conservation plans. Predictably, the massive demand would accompany a wash of filthy money on offer to lure poachers and emulate what happened in Sariska and Panna where tigers went locally extinct.
Samir Sinha, who heads Traffic India, views the debate as a platform for creating awareness about the tiger and to intensify international pressure on China to wipe out tiger parts trade from the country. Sinha says, "The positive aspect of this debate has been the awareness that has been created about the tiger and the need for its survival."
Indian authorities played down the Year of the Tiger issue as a simple case of perception but agreed to the use of tiger parts in Chinese medicines as the primary reason for tiger's disappearance in India. "A recent investigation by Debbie Banks of EIA revealed that tigerparts were openly sold in China, so the perception isn't a false one. China never came out openly as to what they do with tiger parts, but there is a common belief among the Chinese that certain tiger parts possess medicinal values," explains SP Yadav, DIG, National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Fuelled by robust economic growth and capitalism in fast-forward mode, conservationists fear China's insatiable demand for tiger parts could dangerously hamper India's tiger conservation plans. Predictably, the massive demand would accompany a wash of filthy money on offer to lure poachers and emulate what happened in Sariska and Panna where tigers went locally extinct.
Samir Sinha, who heads Traffic India, views the debate as a platform for creating awareness about the tiger and to intensify international pressure on China to wipe out tiger parts trade from the country. Sinha says, "The positive aspect of this debate has been the awareness that has been created about the tiger and the need for its survival."
Indian authorities played down the Year of the Tiger issue as a simple case of perception but agreed to the use of tiger parts in Chinese medicines as the primary reason for tiger's disappearance in India. "A recent investigation by Debbie Banks of EIA revealed that tigerparts were openly sold in China, so the perception isn't a false one. China never came out openly as to what they do with tiger parts, but there is a common belief among the Chinese that certain tiger parts possess medicinal values," explains SP Yadav, DIG, National Tiger Conservation Authority.
