Trophy and Sport Hunting: Page 1 Endangered Species Handbook

Persecution and Hunting

Trophy and Sport Hunting: Page 1

The most prestigious trophy for maharajahs and colonial hunters was the Tiger (Panthera tigris), largest of all cats. One maharajah shot at least 1,000 Tigers in his lifetime, while another complained that his total bag of Tigers was only 1,150 (McClung 1976). The number of Tigers killed by these two maharajahs equaled the entire population of these cats in India by the late 1960s. Tiger hunts were a royal pastime and employed hundreds of native "beaters," who drove the frightened cat toward a hunter who was perched safely atop an elephant.

Tigers require large territories. Even in the best habitats, their natural density is low. They probably once numbered 50,000 in India alone, however, when forests covered much of the country. Tigers were hunted to extinction on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali, where each was a separate subspecies, and they have been hunted to endangered status on Sumatra. In the western portion of their range, the Anatolian or Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) once ranged from Turkey eastward through the Caspian Sea region of Central Asia. Hunting eliminated these Tigers in Central Asia centuries ago, and only a few isolated populations remained in Turkey by 1900. The last individuals in Turkey were shot in 1972. This subspecies was driven to extinction by trophy hunting and persecution by livestock owners. By the 1960s, Indian Tigers were endangered, yet trophy hunting and killing by livestock herders for the fur trade continued. Indian President Indira Ghandi established a conservation program called Project Tiger in the 1970s, which set aside many reserves and accorded strong legal protection. When the species was beginning to increase in numbers, a trade in their body parts for Traditional Chinese Medicine reversed this recovery.

Today, fewer than 5,000 Tigers remain in the wild. At the present rate of killing--one Tiger per day--the species will become extinct in the wild within 30 years or less. Hunting of these magnificent cats intensified in the 1980s and has accelerated everywhere. They are killed by poison, traps and guns wherever they survive. Villagers and professional hunters sell Tiger pelts, bones and other body parts in a network of smugglers that reaches from rural India, Bangladesh and Indochina to China, Japan and Taiwan. Tiger pelts are openly sold as trophies in many Asian countries, including Pakistan, Cambodia and Vietnam. They are displayed on shop walls, often with head attached. Some Tiger cubs are even part of this trade, killed and stuffed to be sold as tiny curios.

This magnificent cat will not survive long without legions of rangers guarding the remaining animals. Anti-poaching funding is inadequate in almost all its range. Indian parks and sanctuaries, many of them set aside for the Tiger, are understaffed, and dedicated wildlife wardens are underpaid and poorly equipped to combat poachers (Currey 1996). Some Indian park wardens have been bribed by poachers and watch as they skin dead Tigers (Breeden and Wright 1996). Elsewhere in the Tiger's range in Thailand, Cambodia and Burma, for example, few parks and protected areas have been set aside, and wildlife conservation has low priority.

The market for the pelts and stuffed trophies of these last Tigers among wealthy status-seekers in Asia and elsewhere has increased in recent years. One Taiwanese businessman profiled in a National Geographic article (Zich 1993) proudly displayed three stuffed Tigers which he had placed in his bedroom; one of the Tigers was standing on a Lion pelt with the head attached. He protested, "I worked so hard to make money. Now I spend it" (Zich 1993).

In spite of what appear to be overwhelming odds, new projects are attempting to turn the tide. Anti-poaching work in Siberia has helped arrest the steep decline of this critically endangered race of the Tiger in a joint United States-Russian program (Galster 1996). An international fund begun by Exxon Corporation, whose logo is a Tiger, has sponsored anti-poaching work and research throughout its range as well as education programs to persuade Asians not to purchase Tiger products. The US Congress appropriated several million dollars for anti-poaching campaigns, and organizations, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society based in New York City, have worked in Cambodia, Indonesia and other countries to survey and aid in conservation of the species. Scientists have cooperated in studies of the Tiger and aided governments in conservation programs, as described in the recent book, Riding the Tiger. Tiger Conservation in Human-dominated Landscapes (Seidensticker et al. 1999).

The Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) once occurred throughout the Middle East as far as India. In the 16th century, the Indian emperor Akbar the Great kept more than 1,000 Cheetahs for hunting. Only one litter was produced by his Cheetahs, and the species died out in India and all of its Asian range except Iran, where fewer then 200 animals remain (Hunter 1998). It is classified as Critical, the most endangered category by the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Northwest African Cheetah (Acinonys jubatus hecki) is listed as Endangered by the IUCN. In reality, it is nearly extinct, with possible survival only in Algeria, Morocco and Niger, having disappeared from Egypt, Libya and Western Sahara. In the Saharan region, nomadic tribes, such as the Tuareg and Toubou, hunt Cheetah in desert areas of Mali, Niger and Chad, using saluki dogs (Hunter 1998). On occasion, Cheetah prey on young camels in the area, their natural prey having been eliminated. The tribes have such a hatred for Cheetah that they pursue them if they see their tracks, with or without proof of predation (Hunter 1998). Being followed for days in the extreme heat, the Cheetahs sometimes die from heat and stress even before the men and dogs reach them (Hunter 1998).