WWF.ORG.HK • MY tigerS • iSSue 3 COVER IMAGE: © PHOTOLIBRARY.COM THIS PAGE: © MARTIN HARVEY / WWF-CANON ADOPTION UPDATE New hope for wild tigers Sustainability Climate Change My tigers Conservation 12 YrS We’re aiming to double wild tiger numbers in the next 12 years (2010-2022). 95CM A tiger’s tail can grow up to 95cm long – that’s as long as a baguette! 1,411 India’s current tiger population is estimated to be only 1,411. tigers in numbers 300Kg An adult Amur tiger can weigh up to 300kg. Page 5 © VLADIMIR FILONOV / WWF-CANON MY TIGERS NEWS tiger poaCherS proSeCuted We’re hoping that stronger punishments will help to deter would-be tiger poachers Three Chinese citizens have been sentenced to a total of eight and a half years in prison for trying to smuggle Amur tiger skins and bones across the Russian border. We believe that between 6-10 tigers were killed to provide the smuggled items. It’s a terrible loss, especially as there may now be as few as 400 Amur tigers left in the wild. Because the species is so rare a charge of ‘ecological damage’ has also been brought – a first for this kind of case. It could mean the culprits will also have to pay compensation of 500,000 roubles per tiger (around HK$130,000 per animal). This may not seem a lot, given the awful crime, but for many people in rural China it’s more than two years’ worth of wages. 400 there MaY Now be aS few aS 400 aMur tigerS left iN the wildS of ruSSia An anti-poaching patrol in action: Primorskii, Russia a welcome decision Name: Kamrita (pronounced Kam-reet-a) Species: Bengal tiger Location: Chitwan National Park, Nepal Project location © NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STOCK/ MICHAEL NICHOLS / WWF Page 2 Nepal Chitwan National Park MY TIGERS FIELD REPORT Last summer’s monsoon meant ultra lush grasslands in Chitwan National Park, so there was plenty of food to fatten up Kamrita’s prey. It also gave her excellent ambush cover, and our park rangers have been finding evidence of lots of kills around her habitat. This is good news, because it tells us she’s catching enough prey to keep her fit and healthy. Although they haven’t spotted Kamrita recently, the park rangers did have a close encounter one evening! They were patrolling her territory on elephant KaMrita, let’S roar! The beautiful big cat makes herself heard by park rangers in Chitwan National Park Page 3 Cubs on the move back, when they heard a huge roar. When a second roar sounded even closer, the terrified elephant driver suggested they leave the area as quickly as possible. The rangers believe the roar was from Kamrita. The rangers have been spotting Kamrita’s foorprints Sukhivar Kamrita sightings Kasara Rapti river CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK Deurali India Nepal China © VIVEK R. SINHA / WWF-CANON © WWF NEPAL / SABITA MALLA a safe haven Page 4 MY TIGERS NEWS CroSS-border breaKthrough With our support, the governments of Russia’s Primorskii Province and China’s Jilin Province have agreed to establish the first transboundary conservation network – a protected area that goes across international borders. The agreement means a better-managed and protected habitat for the Amur tiger and other animals which live there. “This agreement is a great boost for Amur tiger conservation in both Russia and China, and for the other species which share the forest, such as the Amur leopard and musk deer,” says Diane Walkington, who leads our wildlife work. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Amur tigers once roamed through much of the Russian Far East, China, and the Korean peninsula. Now, they are found only in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in the Primorskii and Khabarovsky provinces of Russia, and in small pockets of China and possibly North Korea. New joint agreement to protect big cats is a huge leap forward for Amur tiger conservation “This agreement is a great boost for Amur tiger conservation in both Russia and China” Diane Walkington Left: The agreement will protect Amur tigers China and Russia will now work more closely together, sharing their knowledge and using identical monitoring systems. They’ll also carry out joint surveys of the tiger’s habitat, and launch an anti-poaching campaign along the China-Russia border. “This is a great step forwards,” added Diane. “But there’s still a lot to be done, such as getting enough government funding in place to make sure what’s been agreed actually happens.” One thing’s for sure. With your ongoing support, we’ll do everything we can to turn this groundbreaking achievement into a long-term success story. We’ve been trying to identify Kamrita’s cubs, by matching their stripe patterns with the 70 individual tiger pictures captured on camera traps last year. But none of them did match. This probably means the cubs have moved to the edges of the park, away from more dominant male tigers. They will keep on roaming until they establish their own permanent territory. Kamrita is on the move too. She seems to be heading away from her forest trails in Sukhiver and Kasara, towards the river to the north. We welcome the court’s decision because we believe strong punishments like this will be an effective deterrent against tiger poaching and the illegal trade of tiger parts. Thanks to the support of tiger lovers like you, we can continue to work alongside TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network) to investigate, expose and crack down on the crimes that threaten these rare and precious cats. © 1986 Panda symbol WWF “WWF” is a WWF Registered Trademark WWF-Hong Kong, No. 1 Tramway Path, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) 2526 1011, Fax: (852) 2845 2734, Email: [email protected]
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WWF.ORG.HK• MY tigerS • iSSue 3
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ADOPTION UPDATE
New hope for wild tigers
SustainabilityClimate Change
My tigers
Conservation
12 YrSWe’re aiming to double wild tiger numbers in the next 12 years (2010-2022).
95cmA tiger’s tail can grow up to 95cm long – that’s as long as a baguette!
1,411India’s current tiger population is estimated to be only 1,411.
tigers in numbers300KgAn adult Amur tiger can weigh up to 300kg.
Page 5
© v
lad
imir
filon
ov
/ ww
f-Ca
no
n
my tigers news
tiger poaCherS proSeCutedWe’re hoping that stronger punishments will help to deter would-be tiger poachers
Three Chinese citizens have been sentenced to a total of eight and a half years in prison for trying to smuggle Amur tiger skins and bones across the Russian border.
We believe that between 6-10 tigers were killed to provide the smuggled items. It’s a terrible loss, especially as there may now be as few as 400 Amur tigers left in the wild.
Because the species is so rare a charge of ‘ecological damage’ has also been brought – a first for this kind of case. It could mean the culprits will also have to pay compensation of 500,000 roubles per tiger (around HK$130,000 per animal).
This may not seem a lot, given the awful crime, but for many people in rural China it’s more than two years’ worth of wages.
400there MaY Now be aS few aS 400 aMur tigerS left iN the wildS of ruSSia
an anti-poaching patrol in action: Primorskii, russia
a welcome decision
name: Kamrita (pronounced Kam-reet-a)
species: bengal tiger
location: Chitwan national Park, nepal
Project location
© n
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gr
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/ miC
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Page 2
nepal
Chitwan national Park
my tigers field rePort
Last summer’s monsoon meant ultra lush grasslands in Chitwan National Park, so there was plenty of food to fatten up Kamrita’s prey. It also gave her excellent ambush cover, and our park rangers have been finding evidence of lots of kills around her habitat. This is good news, because it tells us she’s catching enough prey to keep her fit and healthy.
Although they haven’t spotted Kamrita recently, the park rangers did have a close encounter one evening! They were patrolling her territory on elephant
KaMrita, let’S roar!The beautiful big cat makes herself heard by park rangers in Chitwan National Park
Page 3
Cubs on the move
back, when they heard a huge roar. When a second roar sounded even closer, the terrified elephant driver suggested they leave the area as quickly as possible. The rangers believe the roar was from Kamrita.
the rangers have been spotting Kamrita’s foorprints
sukhivar
Kamrita sightings
Kasara
rapti riverChitwan national ParK
deurali
india
nepalChina
© v
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© w
wf
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Pal
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a safe haven
Page 4
my tigers news
CroSS-border breaKthrough
With our support, the governments of Russia’s Primorskii Province and China’s Jilin Province have agreed to establish the first transboundary conservation network – a protected area that goes across international borders.
The agreement means a better-managed and protected habitat for the Amur tiger and other animals which live there.
“This agreement is a great boost for Amur tiger conservation in both Russia and China, and for the other species which share the forest, such as the Amur
leopard and musk deer,” says Diane Walkington, who leads our wildlife work.
It couldn’t have come at a better time. Amur tigers once roamed through much of the Russian Far East, China, and the Korean peninsula. Now, they are found only in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in the Primorskii and Khabarovsky provinces of Russia, and in small pockets of China and possibly North Korea.
New joint agreement to protect big cats is a huge leap forward for Amur tiger conservation
“This agreement is a great boost for Amur tiger conservation in both Russia and China” diane walkington
left: the agreement will protect amur tigers
China and Russia will now workmore closely together, sharing their knowledge and using identical monitoring systems. They’ll also carry out joint surveys of
the tiger’s habitat, and launch an anti-poaching campaign along the China-Russia border.
“This is a great step forwards,” added Diane. “But there’s still a lot to be done, such as getting enough government funding in place to make sure what’s been agreed actually happens.”
One thing’s for sure. With your ongoing support, we’ll do everything we can to turn this groundbreaking achievement into a long-term success story.
We’ve been trying to identify Kamrita’s cubs, by matching their stripe patterns with the 70 individual tiger pictures captured on camera traps last year. But none of them did match. This probably means the cubs have moved to the edges of the park, away from
more dominant male tigers. They will keep on roaming until they establish their own permanent territory. Kamrita is on the move too. She seems to be heading away from her forest trails in Sukhiver and Kasara, towards the river to the north.
We welcome the court’s decision because we believe strong punishments like this will be an effective deterrent against tiger poaching and the illegal trade of tiger parts.
Thanks to the support of tiger lovers like you, we can continue to work alongside TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network) to investigate, expose and crack down on the crimes that threaten these rare and precious cats.
© 1986 Panda symbol wwf “wwf” is a wwf registered trademark
wwf-hong Kong, no. 1 tramway Path, Central, hong Kong.
tel: (852) 2526 1011, fax: (852) 2845 2734, email: [email protected]
© a
nd
y r
ou
se
/ natu
re
Pl.C
om
beautY worth proteCtiNgThe beautiful Bengal tiger. Powerful, agile, yet incredibly vulnerable to habitat loss. Here at WWF we’re doing everything we can to protect the tiger’s last remaining habitats from threats like deforestation. Not only does this degrade and destroy its home, it releases greenhouse gases, one of the causes of climate change.
wwf.org.hk
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