Tiger conservation

[2] The CITES Secretariat is administrated by the UNEP[3] which works closely with NGOs such as The Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC) to assist member states with the implementation of the convention.

[5][6] The 13 TRC who are CITES member states recently held a conference in Russia and jointly vowed to double the estimated number of tigers left in the wild (3200).

[10][11] For example, Thailand implemented CITES policies to a very high standard but the illegal tiger trade is still rife within this country.

[12] A governance structure such as CITES is powerless to control issues such as poaching unless it has the full cooperation of all actors, including the state.

Various pressures in the latter part of the 20th century led to the progressive decline of wilderness resulting in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats.

[16] At the Kalachakra Tibetan Buddhist festival in India in January 2006, the Dalai Lama preached a ruling against using, selling, or buying wild animals, their products, or derivatives.

Though tiger hunting was prohibited in 1977, the population continued to decline and is considered extinct in southern China since 2001.

[23][24] In northeastern China's Hunchun National Nature Reserve, camera-traps recorded a tiger with four cubs for the first time in 2012.

[26][27] During the early 1970s, such as in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, China rejected the Western-led environmentalist movement as an impeachment on the full use of its own resources.

However, this stance softened during the 1980s, as China emerged from diplomatic isolation and desired normal trade relations with Western countries.

[29] Subsequently, in 2018, the State Council of the People's Republic of China proposed a new order that would allow for the use of farmed tiger bones in medical research and treatment - this sparked a significant international backlash.

[28] In 2003, Chinese customs officials in Tibet intercepted 31 tigers, 581 leopards, and 778 otters, which, if sold in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, would have netted $10,000, $850, and $250 respectively.

[32] Work during the pilot phase included closure of industrial and mining enterprises, removal of fences, buildings, farms, livestock and hunting gear, rescue and release of wildlife, establishment of feeding points for wildlife, and restoration of fragmented habitat.

[33] Researchers suggested that the park's capacity is insufficient to support the sustained existence of a Siberian tiger population.

[34] Forest cover in Vietnam has been reduced to less than 15% of the original extent before the 1940s, due to warfare, illegal logging, and slash and burn agricultural practices.

[37] In Laos, 14 tigers were documented in semi-evergreen and evergreen forest interspersed with grassland in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area during surveys from 2013 to 2017.

[41] Five tigers were recorded in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area between April 2003 and June 2004.

[45] The Myanmar tiger population was limited to the Tanintharyi Region and Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in 2006.

The natural ecological divide for these two populations is assumed to be the Irrawaddy River, but there is no scientific evidence for that hypothesis.

[46] Today, the presence of tigers was confirmed in the Hukawng Valley, Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary, and in two small areas in the Tanintharyi Region.

Panthera is a conservation organization that’s the main goal is to preserve wild cats focusing on tigers, lions, snow leopards, and jaguars.

[54] To accomplish these goals they are increasing the amount and quality of law enforcement in these areas and working with informants to catch poachers.

The STF was founded in 1995 by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and focuses on preserving wild tigers.

[62] WildTeam uses a social marketing approach to create innovative, community-based conservation solutions to help save tigers in the Sundarbans of India.

This involves observing paw prints in the ground and taking measurements of width, length and indentation to determine the individual that was in the location.

Once the tigers are found, photographs, drawings and notes regarding sex, location, and other details of the individual are taken and sent back to the study camp.

[63] There are also multiple reserves that allow professional guided tourists to explore via elephant mahout, where sightings are recorded if tigers are seen along the trails.

Selection of initial focus areas are determined by level of potential success once efforts are put into place.

In 1978, the Indian conservationist Billy Arjan Singh attempted to rewild a captive-bred tigress in Dudhwa National Park.

[71] A future rewilding project was proposed for Siberian tigers set to be reintroduced to northern Russia's Pleistocene park.