Sumatran Tiger Facing The Abyss - BBC

[hatrack]

"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.

EDIT

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.

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. "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."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3514072.stm

[gate of the sun]

1. It seems strange for a people

who value it's "medicinal" qualities to kill an animal into extinction. very sad and ignorant. But considering that 50 animals have been poached between 98 and 03 which accounts for another 250 animals that their numbers are not large anyway.It doesn't look good for many large species due to various reasons.

[hatrack]

2. Well, it's Indonesia . . .

And, to be perfectly blunt, Indonesia is pretty much fucked beyond repair on any green issue you choose to name.

One news site I enjoy had two headlines today from two different agencies about the environmental situation there. One noted that the government is considering the death penalty for illegal logging in protected forest reserves. The other noted that the government was confirming the right of companies to continue mining in protected forest reserves.

So, under these kinds of circumstances, I don't let dark little clouds of optimism tarnish my own prognosis for the Sumatran tiger - they'll all be gone soon, unless a whole lot of people get really smart really soon, and when was the last time you heard of a sudden, shocking outbreak of mass intelligence? Witch trials, dancing manias, pogroms, Final Four riots or the Virgin Mary in a flour tortilla drawing tourists to New Bedford or Texarkana, sure, but a sudden spontaneous outbreak of long-term thinking, creativity and self-denial? Not on this planet . . .