WILDLIFE CONSERVATION: Save the Tiger

▪ 1995

 At the beginning of the 20th century, even though tigers had been hunted for at least a thousand years, there were still an estimated 100,000 of them living in the wild. As the century drew to a close, however, it was feared that there were only 5,000-7,500 left in the world. (See Map—>.) Until relatively recently tigers had been prized as trophies and as a source of skins for expensive coats. Tigers were also killed on the grounds that they posed a danger to humans. In the 1970s the sport of tiger hunting was banned in most countries where tigers ranged, and the trade in tiger skins was outlawed. Censuses of tigers in the 1980s showed their numbers to be increasing, and it appeared that conservation efforts had been successful and that there no longer was a threat of extinction.

      Nonetheless, things were not as they seemed. Tiger parts—skulls, bones, whiskers, sinews, and blood—had long been used by Asian peoples, especially the Chinese, in medicines and potions used to treat rheumatism, rat bites, and various diseases; in the restoration of energy; and as aphrodisiacs. Until tiger hunting was banned, these body parts were never in short supply. In the late 1980s, however, stockpiles were becoming exhausted, and evidence that tigers were still being killed began to accumulate. New, more careful counts revealed that previous censuses had been inflated by officials who either were in connivance with poachers or were merely eager to impress their superiors. At the same time, reports of poaching were multiplying, and the underground trade in tiger parts flourished as the dwindling supplies pushed prices ever higher. There were occasional highly publicized seizures and destruction of the confiscated parts, but little effort was really being put forth to stop the smugglers, and the potions remained available in Chinese apothecaries in several nations.

      Pressure was put on governments to impose sanctions on countries that failed to take adequate measures to eliminate the trade in tiger parts. Conservationists, believing that only the threat of punitive measures by the U.S. would force any real change, urged Pres. Bill Clinton's administration to take action, and in April 1994 it did so, barring the importation of wildlife products from Taiwan, valued at about $25 million annually. Some governments were attempting to cooperate. In March India convened the first meeting of the 10-nation Global Tiger Forum in an organized attempt to save the species.

      Nevertheless, it was feared that even if all poaching did cease, the threat to the tiger would not disappear. In India, where the largest number of tigers lived, the need of the rapidly growing human population for more territory was robbing the tiger of both its habitat and its food supply. Still, a true respect for nature continued to exist and, indeed, the country had already spent vast sums to help the tiger survive. There was hope that perhaps humans and tigers would yet find a way to continue to coexist. (BARBARA WHITNEY)

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