A Walk on the Beach Renews Me

 

Eating dinner at one of my favorite dives, then a walk on the beach and thus will have been an excellent day!

 

Just gave a presentation on Social Marketing to the Marketing Class at Eckerd College and someone left me a sweet note saying how much they appreciate me. 

Wildlife Trafficking is a complex problem. Most of Its solutions require complex coordination of nations and agencies and are generally difficult to achieve although possible.

 

But there is one very, very simple, very very doable action we can take domestically that could have a significant impact that has not achieved broad awareness.  I think the Senator could do a great service to the animals and everyone in attendance by devoting at least part of his keynote talk to the way in which the rampant breeding of tigers in the United States enormously hampers our ability to influence other nations, particularly China, to adopt policies and take actions to stop the trade in tiger parts, rhino horns and ivory.

 

There is a fantastic new resource on the subject of trafficking in the products from these species called "Blood of the Tiger" by Judy Mills.  The book discusses rhino horn and ivory in addition to the tiger parts.  Judy has spent decades operating both at the highest advocacy levels as a representative to CITES and on the ground doing undercover work.  She is privy to conversations that are not found anywhere else.

 

China is "farming" tigers and apparently has plans to do the same with other species.  The Chinese argue, wrongly, that by supplying the "market demand" from the farms they will lower poaching in the wild.  The opposite is true. They will expand the market demand, and increase poaching for two reasons.  First, the animals from the wild will always be viewed as the "premium" product.  Second, it is simply cheaper to poach than to farm.  BUT, when representatives of the US government and NGO's make this case, China points to the thousands of tigers in back yards and roadside zoos in the US and the uncontrolled and untracked breeding and argues rightly that we have no way to know how many of the US tigers are finding their way into the domestic and international trafficking trade, so who are we to demand that China stop breeding? They make the valid point that at least they know where their tigers are.

 

Senator Lesniak previously took action to try to address the lack of tracking with his NJ bill that passed but was not signed by the Governor.  The total solution is a federal bill that would end private possession and breeding of tigers with limited exemptions (like AZA zoos).  That bill (HR 1998/ S 1381) ended the 2014 session with 119 cosponsors in the House and a very positive Senate hearing where the US Fish & Wildlife Service supported the bill and later provided suggestions to the drafters for tightening it further.  It is expected to be reintroduced with some modifications soon.

 

For the upcoming meeting, I think what some participants may not have heard much or anything about is the powerful negative impact that domestic breeding of tigers is having on the credibility of the US as it tries to attack trafficking by leading other nations in the opposition to the Chinese plan to farm these species.  I think explaining this in his talk could do a great service to efforts to preserve these animals in the wild.

 

If this is of interest, I would strongly urge the Senator to invite Judy MIlls to meet with him (she is in DC).  Bill, thanks for asking for my input. - Howard Baskin

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

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