TRAFFIC VIGIL IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
The ban on tiger parts in some SE Asian countries has slowed down the trade. TRAFFIC-India has increased its vigilance in the North East India where in a span of five months tiger bones, tiger and otter skins, ivory and even a rhino horn were seized by the Forest Department and
the Customs, with the help of the TRAFFIC network. But the good news is that overall poaching for commercial trade in tiger parts is coming down.
According to Traffic-India, while one haul was made in Jowai, Mizoram, this January, the second was made in Guwahati. Though trade in tiger bones and tiger parts seems to have come down, it is business as usual in the North East. With the vigilance and networking
of TRAFFIC, tiger bones and skins are seized every year but in varying amounts.
Tigers, it is feared, are being poached in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and in West Bengal. They are then smuggled to the North East for despatch out of the country. Mr Steven Broad, executive director of TRAFFIC International, the wildlife trade monitoring programme of WWF and IUCN, who was here for the annual meeting of the TRAFFIC Network, said in the last five years the ban on trade in tiger parts imposed by China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore had slowed down the trade. Though he could not quantify just how much the trade had reduced, he said in China, chastened by the ban, fewer doctors were prescribing tiger-based medicines. Some shops selling tiger parts and medicines had
shut down.
However, in developed countries like the US, Canada, Europe there was growing interest in traditional medicines which include tiger derivatives. "These countries that complain the loudest about conservation issues need to tidy up their own backyards," Mr Broad stated. In the US, TRAFFIC was now pushing for a new law to ban international trade in tiger parts and medicines. The fact that the carcasses of tigers poisoned by villagers were found intact, is an indication that the pressure to stop trade in tiger parts is working. Mr Broad said TRAFFIC was dialoguing with practitioners of traditional medicine on substitutes for tiger parts. The threat to the tiger should not be replaced by threat to some other living creature, he clarified. Several substitutes for tiger parts have been found.
MANUAL ON TIGER ENUMERATION
There was lack of uniformity in the pug mark collection and analysis.
Based on inputs from wildlife scientist, Dr. L.A.K. Singh, and modified by the Wildlife Institute of India, the TCP has come out with a well documented guide on enumeration of tigers by studying their pug marks, the first of its kind for the country.
Though tigers have been identified by their pug marks since 1972, there was lack of uniformity in the pug mark collection and analysis. Sometimes the left footprint and sometimes the right and sometimes the front and at other times the hind footprint were being measured. The technique of measurement was also not uniform. The present manual is an attempt to standardize, rationalize and fine tune the methodology which could be uniformly followed and with which training could also be imparted to the field workers.
If required, the TCP will bring out a more simple guideline for forest guards in vernacular languages. Drawing from experience on the field, this manual could be further upgraded and made more user-friendly.