TigerTime urges tiger countries to take action

TigerTime is pushing for countries to abide by the CITES call to phase out tiger farms and to destroy all stockpiles of tiger parts.

TigerTime partner the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned that for the GTRP to stay credible, tiger breeding operations need to be shut down and stockpiles of tiger skins and bones must be destroyed.

Senior officials from 13 tiger range countries have met in Delhi, India to evaluate the progress of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP). The last global tiger summit was in November 2010 when the countries put in place the GTRP, which strives to save the wild tiger through protecting tiger habitats and putting an end to the illegal wildlife trade and trafficking. These 13 countries all have the same goal: to double the world’s wild tiger population by 2022.

“The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and the TigerTime team are hopeful that this meeting will herald positive change to the current situation,” says David Shepherd CBE. “There needs to be tighter control on trafficking and enforcement to put an end to the illegal trade of tiger parts. But we also need to enhance our work to protect the tiger in its wild environment with increased anti-poaching operations and education programmes.”

Tiger farming was discussed in 2007 at the 14^th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) where a majority voted against the trade of parts from farmed tigers and called for a phasing out of the farms. Since then, no country has stated what they are doing to carry out this action, this must change.

You can back our campaign to end the tiger trade at www.bantigertrade.com.

Source: Environmental Investigation Agency, Global Tiger Initiative, NDTV.

Written by: Chantelle M Henderson

Photo Credit: Belinda Wright, WPSI.