WildCats Podcast

In our third episode, we are exploring the criminal underworld of the illegal wildlife trade. Raking in up to an estimated $23 billion a year according to the UN, the international wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative transnational organised crimes.

Ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts are among the most popular large animal "commodities" that are trafficked by criminal networks involved in the illegal trade. Today, we are left with fewer than around 4000 tigers living in a meagre 4% of their historic range compared with the 100,000 wild tigers who roamed across Asia just over a century ago. And yet, there is no respite for this heavily persecuted species with an estimated 2 tigers seized per week since the turn of the century.

We are joined by Debbie Banks, the Tiger and Wildlife Crime Campaign Leader for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). From undercover operations exposing the illegal tiger trade to working with governments to improve policy and commitment, Debbie has dedicated more than 20 years to protecting tigers. She has worked on projects and investigations in India, Nepal, China, Thailand, the USA, Europe and Japan and has trained numerous investigators to continue her legacy.

You can read more reports on the illegal wildlife trade from the EIA here.

Welcome to episode two of WildCats Pawcast, the show which brings you closer to experts from around the world working to save wild tigers and their habitats. Today we're going to be taken deep into the world of tigers as we explore the subject of population monitoring which is very topical during this Year of the Tiger.

Confronted with the dire situation facing wild tiger survival back in 2010, world leaders and conservation practitioners met to discuss strategies for tiger recovery. This meeting was a first in human history where country leaders converged to discuss the conservation of a single species. The outcome was a Global Tiger Recovery Program that outlined strategies to double tiger numbers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022. And here we are, it's 2022. 12 years have passed and what happened to that goal to double wild tiger numbers?

Ahead of this year's global tiger count we are joined by Dr Jhala, the dean and a senior professor at the Wildlife Institute of India and Dr Abishek Harihar, a population ecologist and assistant director of Panthera's Tiger program. They explain the history of counting tigers and how baselines were set. We hear how these methods have developed over the years and the benefits and challenges this has created. Dr Jhala gives us an eye-opening insight into India's Guinness World Record holding tiger count and we hear from Dr Harihar about some of the challenges associated with estimating global tiger numbers.

Welcome along to the first episode of WildCats Pawcast, a brand-new podcast from WildCats Conservation Alliance. To kick the series off, this month we're jumping straight in with the topic of diseases.

While global attention is currently focused on COVID-19, a disease that has jumped from animals to humans, it is important to remember that diseases that breach the species barrier also pass from people and their domestic animals to wildlife populations. And this poses a serious threat to endangered species like tigers who are already teetering on the brink of extinction.

In this episode I am going to be joined by the Deputy Country Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Indonesia Program Dr Matthew Linkie, Freeland Foundation's Surviving Together Program Director Tim Redford and wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist Dr. Martin Gilbert from Cornell University. We discussed the top three infectious diseases which are having an impact on tigers, including indirect threats from African Swine Fever and Lumpy Skin Disease to the more direct impacts of Canine Distemper Virus.

12 years ago, there was a very real risk that tigers would become extinct in the wild, however, we are finally seeing their numbers increase across their range in Asia thanks to coordinated and concerted conservation efforts, but they're not out of the woods yet.

In honour of Year of the Tiger in the lunar calendar which begins on February 1st WildCats Conservation Alliance are dropping this Pawcast dedicated to tigers. On the last Year of the Tiger in 2010, leaders of the 13 tiger range countries assembled at an International Tiger Forum to set out the Global Tiger Recovery Program. Their overarching goal was to double the number of wild tigers across their geographical area by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.

That is where this series comes in. To celebrate this monumental year for tiger conservation WildCats delve into current issues affecting the preservation of this majestic species. In each episode, you'll meet with experts from around the world working to save wild tigers and their habitats and take a deeper dive into the threats and solutions affecting the future of the species.

From deforestation to climate change, illegal wildlife trade to human-tiger conflict, WildCats will be exploring a different key issue in every episode.

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