ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

(09-07-2023, 08:29 AM)Balam Wrote:

(09-07-2023, 02:05 AM)peter Wrote: AMUR TIGERS THREATENED ONCE AGAIN

In my previous post, I referred to an article published in the National Geographic in January 2022. It was written by Dina Fine Maron. Here's the link:  

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/ani...body-parts

In a few days, I'll add a summary and a conclusion.

The traditional Chinese medicine market has been an absolute disaster for big cat conservation. With tiger numbers in Indochina lowering, there has been a huge uptick of jaguar poaching in places like Bolivia and the Guyanas to replace the decreasing supply of tiger bones.

It's all terrible and combating this kind of poaching is challenge because these groups are hard very hard to track.

Agreed in all respects, Balam. The future looks a bit bleak. Changing a culture takes time. A lot of time, in fact. Time wild big cats don't have.  

The Chinese, however, are trying to change the tide. In the northeastern part of China, the new wind resulted in a new, very large, reserve, serious conservation and a smallish, but quite stable population of Amur tigers and Amur leopards. I posted about Feng Limin, a well-known tiger biologist, but there are more and quite a few of them have produced interesting articles and papers for quite some time now. Furthermore, poaching is considered a serious offence in the Russian Federation and, even more so, in China. 

Those who know say those involved in poaching also are involved in other criminal activities. Furthermore, they're, not seldom, connected to those involved in laws in some way or another. Meaning it takes a well-organized, and quite wealthy, state to stand a chance. That's still apart from integrity and commitment. Most unfortunately, integrity and politics don't seem to mix anywhere. For this reason, apart from, perhaps, the People's Republic and the Russian Federation, an international task force is needed. 

A post with a link to an article about organisations involved in serious poaching wouldn't entirely be out of place, I think. I know this thread is about the ecology of wild tigers, but we need to inform our members and readers about anything that can be considered a threat. There's parasites, diseases and falling trees, and there's enemies. Natural enemies like big bears and human enemies. Like professional poachers. Reply