Petition Tag - tigers

White tigers are hunted by poachers so that they may be made into Chinese medicine and all the body parts are used for products or food that's why tigers or white tigers are endangered.

View petition

I have decided to start this Petition to send to Channel 4 to see to ask them not to axe The Reality show shipwrecked as I have heard they are Planning to, so Please come on here and sign this Petition.

View petition

The tiger, largest of all cats, is one of the most charismatic and evocative species on Earth; it is also one of the most threatened.

Less than 4,000 remain in the wild, most in isolated pockets spread across increasingly fragmented forests stretching from India to south-eastern China and from the Russian Far East to Sumatra, Indonesia.

View petition

Illegal Tiger Trade Must End

Tigers may soon disappear from the wild unless more effective efforts are made to halt illegal trade. Tiger numbers have decreased dramatically in recent decades due to poaching to supply the illegal trade in tiger parts.

Tiger bones and other parts are used in traditional medicines to treat arthritis and other conditions. And the animals' skins are used as clothing for certain cultural ceremonies and even as decorative objects such as rugs and wall hangings.

Fewer than 3,500-4,000 tigers are estimated to remain in the wild in Asia, the only region of the world where they exist. About 100 years ago, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild. The five existing tiger subspecies—the Amur, Bengal, Indochinese, South China, and Sumatran—all are critically endangered or endangered throughout their ranges. The Caspian tiger of southwest Asia, the Bali tiger and the Javan tiger all became extinct in the last 50 years of the 20th century.

Today, most wild tigers live in India; smaller populations exist in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Viet Nam. Tigers have become extinct in at least 10 other countries. At an International Tiger Symposium held in Kathmandu, Nepal, in April 2007, experts from around the world reported that tiger populations remain in decline nearly everywhere.

A Neverending Battle Wildlife officers in countries where tigers live fight a daily battle against poachers.

Recently in Nepal, a wildlife smuggler was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 Nepalese Rupees (US$ 1,591)—the maximum fine allowed for a wildlife crime in that country—after being caught in 2005 with five tiger skins, 36 leopard skins, 238 otter skins, and 123 kilograms of tiger bones.

The seizure, the largest of its kind ever made in Nepal, occurred thanks to the hard work and cooperation of two non-governmental organizations—Wildlife Conservation Nepal and the Wildlife Trust of India—and the wildlife authorities at Langtang National Park, Nepal, where the smuggler and his loot were found.

India, home to most of the world’s wild tigers, recorded 130 tigers poached between 1999 and 2004 (as compared to 82 known natural deaths), according to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

China Drives Demand Illegal markets in China drive most tiger poaching and illegal trade. To its credit, China has taken many steps to stem the problem—including—in 1993, the establishment of a ban on the import, export, sale, purchase, transport, carrying and mailing of tiger bone and tiger products. Also in 1993, China’s Ministry of Health annulled the national medicine standard on using tiger bone in prepared Chinese medicine, and the use of tiger bone in external remedies. China has banned all production and sale of Chinese medicine containing tiger bone and increased legal penalties for smuggling tiger parts.

However, China’s commitment to ending tiger trade is wavering. At the June 2007 meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), China presented a document that stated that the trade ban had not worked as demonstrated by the fact that wild tiger populations were still in decline.
China further stated that the ban "has seriously impacted not only the Chinese traditional culture but also the medicinal treatment and health care of the Chinese people, in particular those in poverty." They argued that tigers should be treated like crocodiles: farmed for their bones and skin.

Indeed, even while banning the tiger trade, China simultaneously allowed tiger breeding farms to start up and flourish. According to China’s 2007 report, there are 5,000 tigers on farms in China with an annual production of 800 animals.

Tiger Farms Not a Solution
Tigers on these farms are kept in small pens with no enrichment, typical of many types of commercial farm animal production facilities. In addition to being raised for slaughter (although the farms cannot legally sell the tiger parts, they stockpile them for the future), the tigers kept on the farms are used in a variety of ways, including for public entertainment. Visitors to the farms can purchase live prey to feed the tigers who, because they have been taken away from their mothers at such a young age and have grown up in an unnatural environment, have not been taught how to effectively kill prey animals.

The public, including children, cheer while the prey animals are wounded but not killed by the tigers. The prey animals, writing in pain, are taken away by farm workers. Young cubs are declawed; defanged adults are used as photo props.

Removing Ban Could Be Disastrous
If China were to remove its domestic tiger trade ban in order to allow the use of tiger parts from farmed tigers, all the country's efforts to date would be undermined. Instead of dampening the demand for tiger parts, this would only increase it, driving poaching. It would not be possible for tiger farms to meet the demand for tiger parts, so more wild tigers would be poached to meet it.

It is well known that people who use tiger parts for medicinal purposes prefer wild over farmed tigers. Open markets for tiger products in China would provide a cover for even more illegal trade than is currently occurring. Importantly, the traditional medicine industry members have stated that they neither need nor want tiger bone, and it is not necessary for human health.

In response to China’s report, the 2007 CITES meeting agreed that “Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives.”

The way to stop tiger poaching is to stop demand. The way to stop demand is to ban trade and effectively enforce the ban; and educate the public.
Markets for tiger parts and products must be closed once and for all if tigers are to be saved.

As Figure 1 shows, the tiger population dropped over the past 100 years by a factor of 25 - from an estimated 100,000 in 1900 to only 4000 in the 1970's. A concerted effort by wildlife protection groups in the 1970's halted their rapid demise and the global population of tigers in the wild has grown modestly to around 6000 at the turn of the century(1). Poaching continues to this day, however. When a Russian poacher can make as much from a single tiger kill as he would normally earn in 6 years, it will take more than words to halt this tragedy(2).

Figure 2 shows how the range of tigers has changed over the past 100 years. Once ranging all throughout India, southeast Asia, central Asia, and eastern China, only small pockets of natural habitat remain(3).

Tigers - Ecology & Habitat
The habitat requirement of tigers are dense vegetation, the presence of large ungulate prey, and access to water. These felines inhabit such habitats as tropical rainforests, evergreen forests, mangrove swamps, grasslands, savannas, temperate forests and and rocky areas.

Social Structure
Tigers are mostly solitary, apart from mother-offspring associations. However, individuals living close to one another may display sociable behaviour and at times, and adults may even share a kill.

Life Cycle
Tigers generally gain independence at 2 years of age and attain sexual maturity at 3-4 years for females and at 4-5 years for males. Juvenile mortality is high however: about half of all cubs do not survive more than 2 years. Tigers have been known to reach the age of 26 in the wild.

Breeding
Although tigers can mate at any time, breeding is more frequent from November to April. On average, they give birth to 2 to 3 cubs every 2 to 2.5 years, sometimes 3 to 4 years; if they all die, a second litter may be produced within 5 months. Gestation is usually 104-6 days and births occur in a cave, a rocky crevice, or in dense vegetation.

Diet
Tigers are at the top of the food chain. Hunting primarily by sight and sound, their diet consists mainly of large mammals, such as pigs, deer, antelope, buffalo, and gaur. Smaller mammals and birds are occasional prey. Tigers have also been known to eat crocodiles, fish, birds, reptiles, and even other predators like leopards and bears. Their preferred and essential food however is ungulates - hoofed animals such as deer and wild pigs.

After eating its fill, the tiger may cover the remains with grass or debris and then return for additional meals over the next several days. A tiger can consume up to 40 kg of meat at one time, but individuals in zoos are given 5-6 kg per day. An increasingly restricted feline Previous Population and Distribution Less than a hundred years ago, tigers prowled in the forests of eastern Turkey and the Caspian region of Western Asia. They were found in the Indian sub-continent, stretching to Indochina through China, Myanmar and Thailand.

Branching out south, tigers inhabited lowland rainforests of Malaysia and the Indonesian islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra. They were also found in the Koreas, extending up to the Russian Far East. By the 1980s, tigers on Bali and Java, and those in the Caspian region were extinct.

Current Population and Distribution
The tiger's former range has contracted and fragmented dramatically in recent decades.

Tigers now occur only in scattered populations in parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and the Russian Far East, with a small number still surviving in China and possibly a few in North Korea.

Although there are no recent and accurate estimates of the world tiger population, numbers are thought to have fallen by about 95 per cent since the turn of the twentieth century, down from perhaps 100,000 to the present estimate of around 4,000.

The South China tiger is on the verge of extinction, and the Chinese population of the Amur (Siberian) tiger is in a critical state, although 431-529 individuals are estimated to survive in the neighbouring Russian Far East.

View petition

May 6, 2006

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for Tamils, for Freedom, for a HOMELAND (Tamil Eelam) for very long time. Now, they are close to achiveing their goal.

We, Tamils from around the world, must show our support to the heroes that are sacrificing their lives for our good.

View petition

February 28, 2006

Save the tigers petition started by the kids for tigers.

We want to save the tigers.

View petition

Feb 12, 2006

100 years ago there were 8 different kinds of tigers (subspecies) - there were over 100,000 wild tigers in the world. Today, there are only 5 tiger subspecies left and there are fewer than 7,000 wild tigers in the world.

The main threats to tigers are poaching, loss of habitat, and population fragmentation.

When you sign the TTRT petition you will instantly bee hounered... I will respect anyone who helps tigers. They are my favourite animals ever.

View petition

Tribute: Shankar Rajee
M.R. Narayan Swamy

Shankar Rajee, who died of a heart attack in Colombo on January 10, 2005, was one of the earliest entrants into Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka, one who closely witnessed the growth of the movement from its nascent days to the frightening proportions it has now assumed.

In the last years of his life, Shankar (real name Nesadurai Thirunesan) had bowed out of the Indian media scene and led a largely low key, though not quiet, life, hopping between Chennai, where his mother lived, and Colombo, where he was a consultant with the state-run Cashew Corporation. He was also the leader of whatever was left of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS), the oldest of all the Tamil militant groups which came up in the 1970s in response to growing Sinhala chauvinism.

Shankar, who was educated in Jaffna and London, was among the earliest Tamils who took military training from the Palestinian guerrillas in the Middle East, probably in the hope that their own community would some day produce a Yasser Arafat.

In the years I covered the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict, I came into close contact with Shankar and he helped me gain valuable insight into the Tamil society. Our first meeting took place at the EROS office in a middle- class Chennai neighbourhood where I had gone to interview its other best-known leader, V. Balakumar. As the latter spoke to me, I saw Shankar seated by his side, studying a map of Jaffna and making a note or two. EROS had a collective leadership in which Balakumar and Shankar were the first among equals. They had contrasting personalities. Balakumar was the quiet one, almost inaudible, at home in Tamil, while Shankar spoke Tamil and English with equal ease, was outgoing and felt comfortable dealing with Indian bureaucracy and diplomats. Shankar was designated the head of the EROS military unit and maintained liaison with revolutionary groups from around the world.

Like so many Sri Lankan Tamils of that era, Shankar was a Marxist during his student days. In London, he and like-minded students formed a student group and then, in 1975, set up EROS. It was a path-breaking development in Tamil history. Some EROS members enjoyed a warm relationship with the local PLO representative who helped them to fly to Lebanon and Syria to get military training from Arafat's Fatah guerrilla group. Shankar valued this training although nothing much came out of it.

It was EROS that introduced LTTE, then a virtually unknown group, to the Palestinians but this produced friction between him and LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. The row was over money, which Shankar paid up. But their relations never improved, and years later LTTE's Anton Balasingham, probably reflecting Prabhakaran's view, accused Shankar of being an Indian spy—a charge the latter vehemently denied.

Much before that, Shankar recalled meeting Prabhakaran sometime in 1975-76 in the Tamil Nadu town of Tiruchy. Shankar had flown into India from London carrying air gun pellets, batteries and film rolls. He had been told to deliver them to a man but was not given his identity. It turned out to be Prabhakaran, a young and largely unknown entity who turned up at the small hotel across the Tiruchy bus stand where Shankar was putting up. When I reasearched for the LTTE chief's biography (Inside an Elusive Mind, Konark, 2003) Shankar told me: "It was Prabhakaran who came to take the delivery. Honestly, I was not impressed with him. He did not seem happy with what I had brought. He obviously was expecting some other things. Just what, I do not know."

Years later, before the souring of ties, Shankar had a more fruitful meeting, in an LTTE hideout in Sri Lanka's north, with Prabhakaran, who by then had begun to acquire a stature in the militant ranks. Shankar had a vivid memory, and in 2001 could recall what really happened: "Prabhakaran was eager to know what training the Palestinians imparted. His eyes sparkled at the mention of M-16s, AK-47s and anti-articraft guns. But he was keener to hear about pistols and revolvers."

But Prabhakaran was not a man of theory; he invited Shankar to display his shooting skills. The target was an empty Milk Maid can. From 20 feet away, Shankar took aim and grazed the can, toippling it. "Prabhakaran walked up to the fallen can, picked it up and put it back on the wall. He then returned to where the Fath-trained (Shankar) was standing and fired the gun, hitting it smack in the middle." Shankar was naturally impressed.

Despite the Palestinian training, Shankar and his friends in EROS did not carry out any military action in Sri Lanka. There were also differencs within EROS, leading to a split and the birth of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). When Tamil militancy galloped from 1983, EROS was among the first groups to secure Indian military training.

Shankar was also among the first to understand that New Delhi would never allow an independent Tamil Eelam to come up.

During the years leading up to the 1987 India-Sri Lanka peace agreement that sought to end Tamil separatism, Shankar, as the EROS military wing leader, masterminded some deadly bomb attacks in the island-nation that claimed many innocent lives. He also developed close ties with the Indian establishment but this was not enough to save him from a jail term in Chennai that may have contributed to his early death.

Shankar and Balakumar met the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, just before the latter flew to Colombo in July 1987 to sign the India-Sri Lanka accord. Prabhakaran, however, continued to mistrust him. Shankar and Balakumar met the LTTE chief at New Delhi's Ashok Hotel at that time; but on a second occasion, Prabhakaran told Balakumar that he did not want to see Shankar.

Shankar had a keen understanding of the Sri Lankan Tamil society and of LTTE. When the Tigers took on the Indian Army, he prophesied to friends that Prabhakaran would never, ever give up his Eelam goal. He was proved right. In March 1990 the Indian troops came home and the now-powerful LTTE ordered EROS to disband or merge with the Tigers. Some disgusted EROS members drifted away from politics, others (Balakumar included) joined LTTE while small band led by Shankar kept the outfit's flag flying for whatever it was worth.

Shankar was arrested in Chennai in 1997 on charges of smugggling foreign currency and was jailed. None of his contacts in the Indian establishment came to his rescue. He spent over a year in prison, where, his mother recalled later, he developed a good rapport with the other, mostly Indian, prisoners and became their leader. But despite the bitterness the detention caused, Shankar considered himself a friend of India. The imprisonment, however, affected his health, and he was never the same old self again.

Shankar never underestimated the LTTE or Prabhakaran, At the same time, he could not think of giving up his independent existence. Once the Sri Lankan military took control of Jaffna from LTTE in December 1995, Shankar visited the town to see a relative. The LTTE—which controlled a small part of Jaffna peninsula but had many eyes and ears in the region—came to know about the visit. The Tigers wanted to know if Shankar was merely calling on the relative or trying to resurrect EROS. Shankar got the message and promptly left Jaffna.

More than once he told me that Prabhakaran's personality would never allow him to compromise with Colombo, Norway or no Norway. It is a viewpoint that many have come to share now. But in February 2002, when the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government signed a ceasefire, only a few like Shankar asserted, with confidence that comes with experience, that it would not lead to Prabhakaran embracing Colombo, never ever.

From: Nesan Thirunesan, Son of the late Shankar Rajee, Leader of EROS.
e-mail: ttnesan@yahoo.com

View petition

Lester Tiger, the official mascot of European champions Leicester Tigers has been disgracefully dumped in favour of two strange looking flourescent feline monsters. Please show your support to Lester, the Tigers greatest supporter.

Bring back Lester!!!!

View petition

Early in the 20th century there was an estimated population of 100,000 tigers spread across Asia. Now there is less than 7,000 spread out across Asia's forests.

There are already 3 out of the 8 tiger subspecies which have become extinct: the Javan, the Caspian, and the Bali tiger. The South China tiger is almost gone with an appaling population of only 30 to 40. The Siberian and the Sumatran tigers are only 500 in number and the Indo Chinese is not far behind.

The main reasons for the tiger's demise are poaching, habitat loss and population fragmentation.

The Indian tiger is being poached at a rate of one tiger a day. They are mainly poached for body parts, which are sold on the black market for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine. These body parts are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine because of old beliefs that they contain certain healing powers. These beliefs are absolutely unfounded as there is no scientific proof that there is any medicinal value in the tiger parts at all.

View petition