For tigers, China a forbidden land

NEW DELHI: These are dances which will never amuse music-loving Indians. Majestic ceremonials in China and Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) shown in a footage, clandestinely shot last August, have all festive but wrong colours.
Traditional dresses, made of skins of tigers, panthers, snow-leopards, Himalayan bears and otters shell-shock you as you follow the dance numbers closely.
The ceremonies were documented by two undercover Tiger conservationist NGOs, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) of London and Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). Tibetan dancers also displayed before the awe-struck conservationists the costumes made of famous shahtoosh in their numbers.
Seething in anger the conservationists snubbed the revelry as one that smacked of morbidity of the cruellest deaths.
"It also demonstrates lack of awareness among consumers of the importance of wildlife in forests," cried a mail to this correspondent.
WPSI chief Belinda Wright said: "This is the first time the seriousness of the problem has been exposed. The volume of skins openly for sale is shocking. It is a thriving, uncontrolled market, which may explain the increased poaching of tigers in India that has left at least one tiger reserve devoid of tigers and four others almost empty."
The costumes were made almost of all animals, listed as endangered in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Flora and Fauna (IUCN).
Mandarins of India's wildlife, ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) play the usual notes: "The filmed parades and dances were all pretty old."
Enormity of the market for wildlife body parts baffled the conservationists. EIA's senior campaigner Debbie Banks says, "The magnitude of the crime was unknown until August. In five years, the international community has seen the trade spiral out of control. If this continues unabated for another five years, it will be the end for the wild tiger in India."
The MoEF doesn't think so. Asked what happened to India's "10-year protocol with neighbouring countries on wildlife poaching and articles trading" which has now been taken up for action, inspector general of forests (wildlife) RB Lal said,"It's not gathering dust in the first place. Meetings are held among neighbouring countries regularly and actions are taken."
Wright insists, "The Indian and Chinese governments must stop this trade now, before time runs out."
According to EIA reports, "There has been a massive increase in availability of tiger and leopard skins in Lhasa. Forty-six shops were surveyed, in which chubas made of skins of 54 leopards and 24 tigers were displayed, seven whole fresh leopard skins presented for sale and, within 24 hours. Investigators were offered three whole and fresh tiger skins."
At festive horse-riding competitions, in presence of organisers and government officials, Tibetans in their traditional regalia made of the skins and other wild body parts, such as bones, hairs and tails said to the undercover investigators that the tiger skins were from India.
"In one street in Linxia (China), skins over 60 snow leopards and 160 leopards were on display in broad daylight, even as many skins were rolled up backroom. Over 1,800 otter skins were used to decorate costumes, " says the report."