Demand for body parts is
widespread |
Indonesia's
last sub-species of tiger - the Sumatran - is doomed unless the
trade in its body parts is stopped and its habitats saved,
campaigners warn.
One estimate suggests there may be only 400-500 of the tigers
left in the wild.
A new report says demand for medicinal ingredients, trophies,
charms and souvenirs in Asia is driving a systematic programme of
killing by hunters.
The concern is raised by Traffic, the wildlife monitoring
network, and WWF, the global conservation organisation.
Traffic's undercover investigators found what they described as a
substantial domestic Indonesian market for tiger parts.
The investigators found animal products in 17 of the 24 towns
they visited. About 20% of 453 shops they went to had body parts on
sale, mostly teeth and claws. Much of this trade is done in the
open, says Traffic, even though it is illegal.
'First step'
The campaign groups argue this trade is unsustainable. They claim
there is evidence to show that at least 50 Sumatran tigers have been
poached per year between 1998 and 2002.
"It is a catastrophic level of poaching," Stuart Chapman, from
WWF, told the BBC.
Their forest habitat is under
pressure |
"The
population simply can't sustain this level of killing. There is no
chance of this population being re-populated from somewhere else -
it is an island population. The prognosis is not good."
"Increased and improved enforcement is the only thing that is
going to save the Sumatran tigers," said Chris Shepherd, a co-author
of the Traffic-WWF report.
"As a first step, action should be taken against the markets,
trade hubs and retail outlets highlighted in the report, especially
in northern Sumatra. More specialised anti-poaching units also need
to be established urgently."
The report, called Nowhere To Hide: The Trade In Sumatran Tigers,
also shows how the trade in Sumatran tiger parts extends to South
Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and China.
Company plan
The Sumatran tiger is listed as Critically Endangered, the
highest category of threat. The fear is that it will go the same way
as two other tiger subspecies, the Bali and Javan tigers, which
became extinct in the 1930s and 1980s respectively.
Loss of forest habitat is another major threat to the Sumatran
tiger. The remaining animals are being pushed back by logging
companies which exploit Indonesia's lowland rainforests to supply
the world with paper pulp.
The tigers may be being pushed into a conflict
with
humans |
Traffic
and WWF want the paper companies to agree to a moratorium on their
logging operations in natural forest, some of which is prime tiger
habitat, until the conservation value of the forests can be
assessed.
The Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) company, one of the biggest in
the region, said it "deplored the killing of any endangered species"
and claimed it had set aside 77,000 hectares (190,200 acres) of land
for conservation in Sumatra.
APP says it has a plan in place to make its activities fully
sustainable in 2007 and has accused WWF of being "extreme" in its
dealings with the company.
Loss of habitat has also been blamed for bringing villagers into
conflict with the animals. Eight people have been mauled to death by
tigers in Sumatra since August 2002.
"The Sumatran tiger is one of those iconic species," said Sarah
Christie, a tiger expert with the Zoological Society of London
(ZSL).
"If we save it we pass the test because in protecting its habitat
we will save so many other species from extinction as well."
Christie is a member of the Jambi tiger project - a partnership
of the ZSL, an oil palm company, PT Asiatic Persada, and the
Indonesian Government - which is tagging the Sumatran tigers with
radio collars to learn more about their conservation needs.
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