WWF TIGER STATUS REPORT: 1998
In the Chinese calendar, 1998 is the Year of the Tiger. There could hardly
be a more appropriate time to assess the tiger's past and present status.
At the turn of the century, eight sub-species of tiger were found from
the Caspian Sea to Bali. In the last 50-60 years - around five cycles of
the Year of the Tiger - three sub-species (the Bali, Caspian and Javan)
have disappeared. Today, there is little to celebrate about current status
as tiger populations dwindle even further: the Bengal tiger may number
around 3,000, the Indo-Chinese just over 1,000, the Sumatran and Amur
around 400, and the South China tiger is at an all-time low of just 20.
Experts across tiger range states have provided forecasts for the fate
of the species' future by the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 12 years.
Specialists in Russia and Indonesia give some hope for both the Amur
and Sumatran tiger, but the prognosis from India is gloomy - only 500
tigers in a handful of reserves. Indo-Chinese tiger populations will be
declining rapidly and the South China tiger will become extinct.
Threats to the tiger are all too familiar: loss of habitat, illegal
hunting for its body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicines, and retaliation for
attacks on local farmers' livestock. Urgent action is needed now to
ensure the tiger is saved. With this in mind WWF is determined to
undertake some key actions in 1998 in the following areas:
- public awareness and education worldwide;
- the setting up of a rapid response tiger emergency fund;
- supporting the strengthening of controls on illegal tiger trade in tiger
parts in key countries;
- a feasibility study to assess the status of tigers and threats from
development in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh - a major tiger habitat with
perhaps the single largest population of Bengal tigers left in the world.
These activities complement WWF's 37 continuing projects which will:
- strengthen tiger population monitoring and tiger protection measures by
providing training and technical assistance to anti-poaching brigades and
wildlife biologists;
- help to resolve the human-animal conflict by protecting villagers'
livestock from tiger predation, for example, and reducing their
dependence on forest resources;
- strengthen and increase the network of tiger protected areas,
especially those identified as high priority tiger habitats (Level 1 tiger
conservation units);
- strengthen the capacity of range states, especially in Indo-China
(Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) to control wildlife trade by
providing training and technical assistance for trade control and
enforcement;
- strengthen national and international laws to control the tiger trade;
- reduce the demand for tiger products and build public support for
conserving tigers in the wild through campaigns that target consumers of
tiger products.
WWF alone cannot save the tiger - but if the governments and people of
range states have the will to conserve them, then WWF and its partners
can help. Together, we aim to ensure that the Year of the Tiger becomes
the Year for the Tiger.
FORWARD