Big  Cat Rescue’s Involvement in ITC Saving Wild Tigers

 

11/5/09 we were drafting an answer to this question:

 

Here is the question again: How can China's farms be phased out in terms of the animals and facilities themselves, as well as compensation for the owners of the farms?

 

1. Assessment and Preparation of a Plan for each facility 

2. Assessment of existing management regime

 

THE most important thing to do is stop the breeding.  Neutering all of the males is quick and cheap.  That can be done in just a few minutes by our vet and the biggest cost is the sedation.  There is just an overwhelming temptation, from what I see in pseudo sanctuaries, to allow "accidental" breedings so that they have cubs to attract the public.  Mandatory castration of existing males and neutering all new cubs at a few weeks of age, will stop the increase of tigers in cages.

 

On 11/6/09 I reported this success from the ITC conference call:  Resulting from today's call below. Summary is that we can petition the USFWS to rescind their "generic tiger" exception, so that all tigers have to be approved for breeding and use based upon how that use enhances wild populations.  Just rescinding would be very easy, but we also want tougher restrictions on what constitutes enhancement of wild populations and more record keeping and transparency.

 

12/2/09 we were emailing w/ Judy Mills and IFAW to try and garner votes for the Chase contest which would end up funding ITC for a while.

 

12/8/09 Leigh Henry, of WWF reported, “things are moving quickly here at WWF on the US tiger issue.  It has caught the attention of our leadership team as something we can do as WWFUS in the US for the Year of the Tiger.  Our new Sr. VP for Communications seems likely to throw resources behind the effort.”  And “News on the FWS front is that, after a successful WWF meeting with Dan Ashe, they have removal of the generic tiger exemption from the CBW permit system slated for the Fed Reg in the first quarter of 2010. “

 

At the state level we were trying to come up with the Top 5 worst states in regards to captive tigers and I suggested, “If you can only have 5, I would trade SC for NC as that is where T.I.G.E.R.S. is based (and FL) so it would stop the nations largest tiger dealer from being able to move cats back and forth across state lines and having them disappear in his other home state.

 

This is my opinion:  The way it works is he says he is sending tigers from his FL facility to SC but no one in SC would ever know or care if they actually arrived, and visa versa.  As long as he doesn't openly transfer them with a paper trail to someone else, USDA is clueless as to where the cats are.”

 

2/25/10  With the wins from the Chase contest Judy posted:  “The ITC booth at the CITES CoP, generously sponsored by Big Cat Rescue, will be #R3, located in the foyer of the Sheraton Conference Center.  The booth will feature ITC information materials, a continuous feed of ITC videos and tiger-striped giveaways (such as lanyards from which to hang CoP15 identification badges).”

 

3/12/10 Judy reported from the CITES meeting in Doha, “The ITC booth opened for business today, and delegates, observers and even CITES Secretariat staff already are wearing their CoP15 identification badges on our tiger-striped lanyards.  “

 

3/13/10 The Peninsula reported, “Over 1,500 delegates representing more than 170 governments, indigenous people, non-governmental organizations and businesses are attending the world conference.”

 

3/23/13 Judy reported to the ITC, “We had confirmation in this morning’s CoP15 Committee II that the following three Decisions will be retained for at least more three years, until CoP16:… 14.69  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.”

 

3/29/10 Judy rep