14 leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs), among them several from Asia, have called for US President, Barack Obama, to raise the serious issue of tiger trade with Chinese President, Xi Jinping, during his visit to the US, writes the UK-based charity, Born Free, in a press release Friday.
The two Presidents met at a private dinner Thursday. Ahead of that meeting, the NGOs have written a joint letter to Obama requesting the United States impress upon China the vital need to take immediate action to protect the fewer than 3,200 wild tigers remaining across Asia.
The letter warns: “One of the most critical threats to the survival of wild tigers is trade in their meat, skin and bones to satisfy demand driven by wealth, rather than health – for high-status food, drink, home décor and even investment assets.
This demand is fueled by a marked increase in tiger farms in China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, where tigers are intensively bred for trade in their parts and products. China alone claims to house more than 5,000 tigers on farms.”
Wild tigers are beset by habitat loss and degradation (forringelse af deres levesteder), increasing conflict with people due to expanding human populations in their range countries, and a myriad of other threats, among them the increasing availability of commercially produced tiger parts and products, which presents another obstacle to tiger conservation.
The hard graft being done by governments, conservation organisations and private individuals to save tigers and reverse their decline is being directly and fundamentally undermined by this sordid trade.
Hårde anklager mod kineserne
The letter highlights, that “China is the main producer of captive bred tigers, their parts, and their products… and also their main consumer”.
“Yet, counter to its commitments under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, China’s government has supported the expansion of tiger farms, allowed a legal trade in skins from farmed tigers and approved tiger farm wineries that make tiger-bone wine”.
Adam M. Roberts, Born Free’s director, explained:
“The continued fostering of a captive industry to supply a market for derived products only puts more strain on the ability of wild tigers to survive the 21st century”.
“This very market often perceives the wild counterpart as more powerful, virile or otherwise more desirable, so that wild tigers throughout their range continue to feel the heat and suffer sustained and potentially irreversible poaching.”
The letter’s signatories call on the United States to:
1) Urge China to destroy all stockpiles of tiger parts and products
2) Review the current certification of China under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman’s Act and urge China to phase out tiger farms
3) Encourage Congress to pass the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act so that the keeping and breeding of the more than 5,000 captive tigers in the US can be phased down
4) Urge China and Laos to address the trafficking and sale of tiger parts and products, ivory, rhino horn and other endangered species
5) Encourage adoption of legislation that increases the capacity of the US to assist in the international effort to combat illegal wildlife trade.
Tigers are kept in often appalling conditions in tiger farms and other captive facilities across Asia, representing not just a critical conservation issue but also a worsening animal welfare crisis, the NGOs state.
Se brevet i dets helhed på
http://bornfreeusa.org/downloads/pdf/letter_president_obama_tigers.pdf
Om Born Free
The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity, devoted to worldwide protection of threatened species and stop individual animal suffering.
Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase-out zoos, rescuing animals from lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care.
Born Free protects lions, elephants, tigers, gorillas, wolves, polar bears, dolphins, marine turtles and many more species in their natural habitat, working with local communities to help people and wildlife live together without conflict.
Verdens sjældneste ulv
Among the project´s is one for protecting the last remaining Red Wolves living in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains.
Less than 500 wolves survive here and they are more rare than the giant panda. Led by an alpha male and female, all pack members help care for their precious pups.
Se meget mere om denne ulv neden for.
Løvinden Elsa – Født til Frihed
The NGO was founded in 1984 by the actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, stars of the iconic film Born Free, and their son, Will Travers, the charity’s President.
In 1964, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna travelled to Kenya to star in the classic wildlife film ‘Born Free’, based on the best-selling book by Joy Adamson. Released in 1966, the film told the true story of George and Joy Adamson’s fight to return Elsa the lioness to the wild.
Se også www.bornfree.org.uk
Tilføjelse redaktionen:
Hunløven Elsa skabte historie, da hun i 1960’erne blev den første løve i fangenskab, der vendte tilbage til naturen.
Men det var Elsas bemærkelsesværdige forhold til sine ‘adoptivforældre’, vildtinspektør George Adamson og hustruen Joy Adamson, der tog verden med storm.
Joys bog ‘Født til frihed’ og den senere spillefilm var med til at ændre synet på løver og deres bevaringsværdighed.
Den sjældne etiopiske bjergulv – lever af kæmperotter
Ulven findes kun i Etiopiens højland i 3.000-4.500 meters højde. Det er uheldigvis for arten et af Afrikas tættest befolkede landbrugsområder, og i dag overlever den kun i syv mindre og isolerede bjergområder.
Den smukke røde ulv lever på alpine græssletter og heder. Her er der næsten ingen store dyr, til gengæld vrimler det med gnavere.
Især én art er den etiopiske ulv ude efter: Kæmpemuldvarperotten, der vejer op til et kilo. Den lever i underjordiske huler og kommer kun op til overfladen kort tid hver dag.
Ulven kan bruge op til en time på at snige sig ind på en muldvarperotte for at snuppe den, når den stikker hovedet op af sit hul.
“Noget nær verdenrekord i utroskab”
Den etiopiske ulv lever i flokke på op til 14 dyr. Flokstrukturen er helt omvendt af den sædvanlige blandt floklevende pattedyr, for der er mange flere voksne hanner end hunner.
Hannerne i en flok er i familie med hinanden; brødre, halvbrødre, fætre, sønner osv. Hver flok har et alfapar. Det er kun alfahunnen, der får levedygtige unger.
Det har overraskende vist sig, at selv om alfahannen er den eneste af hannerne i flokken, som alfahunnen (bør) parre sig med, er han langt fra altid far til ungerne. Alfahunnen dyrker nemlig sidespring i den helt store stil.
70 procent af hendes parringer er med nabohanner, altså hanner fra helt andre flokke. Hos de fleste dyrearter har genetiske undersøgelser afsløret et vist utroskab, men 70 pct. anses for noget nær rekord.
Underordnede hunner fungerer som ammer
Alle i flokken hjælper til med ungerne, også de store unger fra forrige kuld. Moren bliver hjemme i hulen med hvalpene, og både hun og ungerne får gylpet føde op af de andre.
I mange tilfælde ser man også hvalpene drikke mælk fra andre hunner, der ikke selv har unger.
Videnskabeligt navn: Canis simensis
Vægt: 11-19 kg.
Føde: Især kæmpemuldvarperotter, men også mus, rotter, harer, fugle og deres æg, klippegrævlinger, ådsler og insekter. Sjældent større byttedyr som antilopeunger.
Se billeder af etiopisk ulv på
www.arkive.org/ethiopian-wolf/canis-simensis
