Summer 2024

Dear Friends:

From time to time, it’s important to take stock and check in with just how many tigers are left in the wild.  The 1998 Year of The Tiger census conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had tiger numbers ranging from 4900 to 7300 but the tiger bone trade crisis was in full force. Tiger bones were discovered in a warehouse in New Delhi; tiger bones and skins were found in numerous truck shipments across northern India and in Nepal; and tiger bones were found at an airstrip in NW Nepal enroute to China via Tibet. It was revealed that a factory in Taiwan was bottling over 100,000 bottles of Tiger Bone Wine a year to satisfy traditional medical beliefs. There had never been a tiger on the island of Taiwan, so where were the tigers coming from?  We wrote then that the great tiger reserves of India and Nepal had become shopping malls to satisfy a market created by traditional Chinese beliefs in the medicinal efficacy of tiger parts and that Nepal lay squarely on the smuggling route to extinction. There is no belief in the medicinal efficacy of tiger parts in South Asia.  Peter Jackson, Chairman of the Cat Specialist Group of the IUCN, warned that if the conservation community did not take firm and aggressive action to protect the tiger it might become extinct in the wild within 10 years.

The results of this onslaught on wild tigers became apparent at the 2010 Year of the Tiger summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Wild tiger numbers, about 3000, were at their lowest since records began. At St. Petersburg, tiger-range countries made a commitment to doubling their tiger numbers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.  Sadly, in deference to China, there was no discussion of farming tigers for consumption. In China, Vietnam, and other tiger countries in the Far East, tiger farms continued to operate and flourish. Tiger Bone Wine was sold openly at the farms.  There was also a strong movement to legalize domestic trade in tiger parts, banned in 1993. The argument that the opening of domestic trade would take the pressure off wild tigers is folly.  Wildlife crime is too lucrative. And, to the true believer in tiger-based medicines, wild will always be preferable to farmed.  Tiger farms continue to operate today.

The 2022 Year of The Tiger showed mixed results. Thanks largely to the hard-hitting efforts of the Government of Nepal and non-governmental organizations like the Wildlife Protection Society of India, tiger numbers doubled in India and Nepal countered by devastating losses in other countries. The Global Tiger Forum published a census on International Tiger Day in 2023 citing wild tiger numbers around 5574, a good rebound from 3000 in 2010. Tiger numbers doubled in India to 3682, Nepal to 355, were strong in Bhutan at 131, and Bangladesh at 114. A new tiger reserve established in Malaysia recorded 150 tigers. The Siberian tiger sub-species remains strong in NE Russia and China at 500,  Moderate numbers of 150 recorded in Thailand, the Indonesian tiger on Sumatra at 393, and only 28 left in Myanmar.   Proximity to the market-place and lack of political will has been devastating for the tiger in much of East Asia. The only tigers left in China are in the NE and SW, and the tiger is extinct in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The South Asian tiger, (panthera tigris tigris) known as the Bengal tiger in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, now comprises 75% of the remaining tigers in the wild.

Our partners in India and Nepal are clearly making a difference, working at ground zero, with boots on the ground, to preserve and protect the wild tiger and its habitat. We are helping the right people in the right places!!

Meanwhile, where the stripes are, this is what we are doing to help:

INDIA

In spite of the welcome increase in tiger numbers, Central India faces a range of serious threats that endanger its biodiversity. Habitat loss due to rapid urbanization, industrial expansion, and infrastructure development is a major concerns.  And despite the absence of organized tiger poaching gangs in Central India, local poaching is evidently having a huge impact. Between 2019 and 2023, the Wildlife Protection Society of India’s (WPSI) Wildlife Crime Database documented the poaching of 76 tigers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh alone. Some of these were targeted conflict killings, but most were indirect cases – the result of poaching for bush meat using, for example, live electric traps, and the use of illegal electric wires to protect crop fields.

It is with great pleasure that, since 1996, The Fund for The Tiger has been able to partner with, and support, various hard-hitting and effective programs of The Wildlife Protection Society of India [WPSI] under the dynamic leadership of Belinda Wright. Its signature campaign, The Investigation into Poaching and Trade of Wild Tigers, has clearly been a huge success. In 2023, WPSI’s Director of Operations in Central India, Nitin Desai, and Advocate Manjula Shrivastav, conducted 27 law enforcement workshops for approximately 1,628 Forest Officials in Central India. Shrivastav also provided legal guidance to State Forest Departments in the primary documentation of cases related to the electrocution of a tiger and a hyena in Panna Tiger Reserve; the illicit cutting of sandalwood trees in the Gir Forest, Gujarat; the illegal trade of wildlife on virtual platforms; and an elephant electrocution case in Madhya Pradesh. She also followed and secured convictions in a large number of wildlife court cases, including a pangolin scales seizure case, a tiger electrocution case and a tiger poaching case.

The WPSI’s Tiger Conservation Awareness program, codenamed Operation Bondomobile, was launched in 2011 to create anti-poaching tiger conservation awareness in the fringe villages of Kanha and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves. Since its inception, this successful initiative has actively engaged local communities in wildlife conservation efforts.  WPSI wrote to us in March…“The program undoubtedly owes its success to the continued support from The Fund for The Tiger.  Without its constant encouragement, our sustained on-ground efforts to safeguard India's largest wild tiger population would have been significantly challenged.”  During 2023, Nitin Desai, together with his Field Officers and informants,  extensively used WPSI's Secret Information Reward Scheme (SIRS), to detect and assist authorities in conducting 11 wildlife seizures and the apprehension of 33 alleged poachers and wildlife criminals.  The SIRS program has become an incredibly effective deterrent to wildlife crime. You may recall that a few years ago, two WPSI informants posing as buyers of tiger skins and bones were warned by a gang of poachers not to get involved. “Too dangerous,” they said, “there are eyes and ears everywhere.” In 2024, Bondomobile One will once again spearhead a focused program in Central India, with the aim of extending WPSI’s anti-poaching outreach to communities living in the forest-fringes of critical tiger habitats, visiting weekly markets, presenting wildlife conservation awareness film screening, and distributing Secret Information Rewards information.

Since 2001, we have supported a WPSI Field Officer operating in and around Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. He runs the Bondomobile effort, conducts wildlife crime education workshops with students and young forest officers, and is a liaison with the Forest Department when a crisis emerges. He has become a major partner in Nitin Desai’s aggressive Poaching and Trade operations across Central India and under Nitin’s guidance, maintains trusted relationships with the WPSI’s informants across Madhya Pradesh. In 2023 he worked with the Forest Department to investigate 18 tiger deaths at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, mostly from infighting on the fringes of the Park and in the dispersal forests. On July 11th, I received this email from sources within the WPSI…“Bandhavgarh is doing well and without any evidence of poaching, the high number of tiger deaths in internecine conflict indicates a high population density of tigers and shortage of space. There have been no poaching alerts, not a word, not even a faint murmur from any informant or member of the public, that someone has taken out even one tiger from Bandhavgarh in the recent past.”

WPSI's presence in Central India represents one of the most extensive non-government anti-poaching outreach efforts in India, and provides a crucial contribution to combating local poaching of protected species and has fostered regional wildlife guardians among local communities.

 On May 19th, we received this wonderful letter of thanks from Belinda Wright, Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India:

“WPSI was thrilled and honoured to learn that the continued support from you and The Fund for The Tiger since 1996, had recently crossed the US$ 1 million milestone! Your sustained and incredible generosity has been instrumental in driving WPSI's conservation achievements, particularly in Central India where we have established a critical ground presence. Among our most impactful endeavours is the Secret Information Reward Scheme (SIRS), a pioneering project that empowers local communities to provide crucial leads on poaching and other wildlife crimes. Since its inception in 2011, information about this Scheme has reached over 1 million community members (that represents the number of cards we have now given out!), and it has directly resulted in WPSI being able to assist the authorities in the registration of 186 wildlife crimes and the apprehension of 661 alleged wildlife criminals and poachers. Not only has this created active stakeholders among the local people who live on the fringes of critical tiger habitats, but it has also helped bridge the poor communication gap between them and the Forest Department. Many thanks again Brian. Your unwavering support over the years has been instrumental in making so many conservation achievements possible. WPSI is truly grateful and touched by our partnership and our friendship, and we look forward to continuing this impactful collaboration to protect wild tigers in India.”

NEPAL

Nepal has become the international role model for community-based tiger conservation. Tiger numbers roared from 121 to 355 in the 2022 census which celebrated The Year of The Tiger. This substantial growth, a 190 percent increase in population size, is the result of Nepal's protection of tiger habitats and corridors, its collaboration with local communities and its strict enforcement of laws against poaching and illegal animal trade. It is absolutely critical that villages in close proximity to protected tiger reserves learn to live in harmony with a vibrant and healthy tiger population and know that they have the support of Park officials and local conservation experts lest they be tempted to turn against wildlife conservation efforts.

In 2009, with the vision of Dr. Bhim Gurung, The Fund for The Tiger began funding the Community Based Anti-Poaching Unit (CBAPU) at Dalla in the southwestern corner of Nepal’s Bardia National Park.  Our facility is at the edge of the Khatta corridor, a network of 74 community forests covering 202 sq km, providing safe passage for tigers between Bardia National Park in Nepal and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India.  We received this excellent year-end report on June 13th:

“A total of 256 PAPU members, comprising 180 males and 76 females from four villages based at Dalla actively mobilized with continuous support from the Fund for The Tiger Project. They conducted regular anti-poaching patrols and operations in the buffer zone forests and the Khata forest corridor. Moreover, income-generating activities (IGA) such as goat and pig farming, alongside income generation training, have inspired local youths mostly from indigenous community to engage in wildlife conservation efforts through PAPU support. As a result, no poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking were recorded in the project site. The CBAPU project site at Dalla has become a role model where many other organizations come and observe how they operate.”

Based on the success of the CBAPU at Dalla Post, Bardia, we have consolidated our efforts at Chitwan National Park (CNP) in Nepal and, in 2018, initiated a CBAPU at Meghauli village. Dr. Bhim Gurung coordinates this program through the Nepal Tiger Trust. (NTT).  Our team conducts regular patrolling with the Nepal Army and Chitwan National Park rangers. Like at Bardia, the CBAPU is involved in communicating with local villagers to mitigate human wildlife conflict issues, and, working together with CNP to provide logistical anti-poaching field support.

We continue to support the Long-Term Tiger Monitoring Project started by Chuck McDougal in the 1970’s. We have obtained permission to camera trap throughout the buffer zone of western Chitwan. Currently, we are camera trapping in the Meghauli buffer zone until the monsoon season arrives. We will continue camera trapping next season covering the entire western buffer zone. 

At both Bardia and Chitwan, we have added a “rapid response” component to our funding to make sure immediate action gets taken to mitigate human-tiger conflict. Hopefully this will help encourage local populations to be pro-tiger conservation.

Our lead tiger tracker at the Nepal Tiger Trust, Baburam Mahato, has become a crucial ally in the Forest Department’s efforts to protect all endangered wildlife and is one of the first to be called to the scene to investigate incidents of wildlife deaths or human-tiger conflict.  Here is an example of Baburam’s ‘rapid response’ work to mitigate human-tiger conflict issues.

On May 12th a tiger came into Meghauli village. The next morning it was identified by Baburam and his NTT team by pugmark measurements. That night the tiger returned and killed a goat at the home of villager. A week later, on May 19, the same tiger killed another goat at another local home. Then on May 20th the same tiger attacked and killed 2 goats at the home of Prem Majhi. The goats were taken out of a shed at the home’s compound.  The tiger was declared a menace to the villagers and the Park officials flew into action. Baburam and his NTT team, along with Park rangers and Army personnel, were mobilized with five elephants to dart and remove the tiger from the area. The tiger was captured on May 21st and taken to Chitwan Park HG at Kasara. It was a young female with wounds in its hind legs. As of this writing the tigress is still at Park HG, deemed too aggressive to return to the wild, but the local villagers’ fears and concerns for safety have been resolved.

With the increasing number of tigers in Nepal, tiger-human conflict has become a major concern, requiring a delicate balance between saving tigers and protecting people as their lives and land intersect. This is not a new problem. A story I wrote 25 years ago tells the tale:

Chitwan, NEPAL

The tiger came north into Nepal across the dry barren hills, emaciated from hunger and thirst, and entered Shilobas Village on the southern edge of the Madi Valley on the night of April 1st, 1999.  The Madi Valley is a small area south of Royal Chitwan National Park in what is known as a ‘buffer zone.’  It contains several small villages dependent on subsistence agriculture and was carved out between the lush forests of Chitwan and the Indian border to the south.

Pug marks showed that sometime late in the night of April 1 the tiger circled a small hut in search of food.  Buffalo meat was inside but the door was secure and the tiger could not get at the meat.  Pug marks were found approaching the hut, completely surrounding it, and deep scratch marks were evident on the mud walls of the building.  Frustrated and hungry, the tiger headed south back into the hills and attacked the first sign of life. 

At approximately 3:30 AM on April 2nd, 69 year-old Sheela Kumari Pant was sleeping next to her husband on a cot on the porch of her home when the tiger pulled her off her bed, dragged her 20 ft. around the corner of the house, and ate most of her head and upper torso.

Thirty-nine hours later, at 6:30 PM on the evening of April 3rd, still in the full light of day, her widowed husband, Gyan Bahadur Pant and a friend, Dhan Bahadur Romawat, were sitting on the same cot on the same porch.  To their utter amazement, the tiger walked right past them, into the adjoining hut, and attacked a sleeping helper named Devi Adhikari.  One can only guess what combination of shock, rage, adrenaline, and fear drove these men into action, but they went through the one small door of the hut and chased the tiger away with sticks.  It’s a miracle that others were not killed in that small house, but Devi Adhikari later died in a local hospital from the tiger’s attack.

On the morning of April 4th, a bull was staked in the front yard of a home about 200 yards closer to the foothills across a dry riverbed.  The tiger attacked the bull but was repelled by the bigger and stronger animal but the bull died later in the day from a deep wound to the neck.

Two villagers arrived at Tiger Tops Lodge during the night of April 4th to tell this tale and ask for help.  On the morning of April 5th, I traveled to Shilobas with Chuck McDougal, Nepal’s renowned tiger expert; Kristjan Edwards, manager of Tiger Tops; and Sukram Kumal, perhaps the best tiger tracker in the world today.

In the afternoon of April 5, all the villagers were excited with the arrival of four huge elephants and two trucks filled with forest officials, guns, and a wooden cage.  That night the tiger returned to finish eating the bull, was darted with a tranquilizer gun, and now resides in precarious health at the Kathmandu Zoo.

A month before, another incident occurred at Kantipur village just 6 kilometers east of Shilobas.  A tiger killed two people and was summarily poisoned and buried on the spot.

It’s difficult to generate local support for tiger conservation when something like this happens.  Walking into a village and pulling someone out of their home is not typical tiger behavior.  To return to the scene of the crime and walk into another house the very next evening not only tempts fate but speaks of normal tiger behavior gone awry.   McDougal and the Warden of Royal Chitwan National Park both agreed that these tigers must have come north from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in India.  Driven by lack of food and water they came through a degraded habitat into an area with no sustainable forest cover or prey base for tigers and where no tigers had been known to live.  They came across land which once did sustain lush forests and prey species for tigers.

Sheela Kumari Pant never had a chance.

But then, neither did the tiger.

•                       •                       *

BANDHAVGARH

Since 1994 I have led 24 tiger conservation trips and taken 221 people to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Central India. Many of you reading this letter travelled with me on that trip. This is for you. I sent an email to my good friend, guide, and naturalist, Jagat Chaturvedi, in mid-June asking him about the status of the tiger there. His reply arrived July 7th. Tigers are flourishing in the core areas and sightings have included leopards, wild elephants, and sloth bears.  It’s good to hear that my favorite zone, Tala, near the main entrance and town by the same name, is back to its glory days. Here are a few snippets from his report:

“Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India, is well known for its density of tigers and their sightings. Though it does provide a thrilling and long-lasting experience to wildlife enthusiast on every single time of their visit, every day and on every game ride. It feels like one had driven long way to find jewels in the jungle. From the beginning of season up to end of February Tala and Khitauli of core zone had tremendous output of sightings where tourists witnessed tigers in both parts. Tala once again has gone beyond imagination as it was used to happen in past. Not only sightings but 5 to 7 different tigers in one go. Hoping to see them and their little ones grown up by next October, All the best to them for their well- being and to the mighty legends of "TIGER" Country Bandhavgarh.”

*                      *                      *

The Fund for The Tiger was incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit public charity in August, 1995.  I am extremely pleased to be able to say that as of June 30, 2024 we have been able to give $1,513,156 to help tiger conservation work in India and Nepal. To those of you who have contributed to this, our heartfelt THANK YOU!

A special thank you to the American Himalayan Foundation, World Charity Foundation, The McDougal Foundation, The Wildlife Sanctuary of Minnesota, Bill and Meredith Bishop, John Mordes, and Delanie Read for their generous support.

JAIBAGH- the email address of The Fund for The Tiger, means “long live the tiger” in the Nepali language. Please check out our new website with expanded essays and photographs at: www.thefundforthetiger.org.                                        

If you wish to help, please send your contribution to:  The Fund for The Tiger at P. O. Box 2, Woodacre, California, 94973 or go to the Donate button on our website. The Fund for The Tiger is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity registered in the State of California.  Your contribution is deductible for tax purposes within the limits of the law.

Sincerely,

Brian K. Weirum
Chairman

The Fund for The Tiger would like to thank all those listed below who have made contributions in 2023 through June of 2024.  Your support is greatly appreciated. 

The American Himalayan Foundation

Scott McDougal/World Charity Foundation

The McDougal Foundation

John Mordes

Delanie Read

The Wildlife Sanctuary of Minnesota

Mountain Travel Sobek

Bill & Meredith Bishop

Robert & Michelle Friend Philanthropic Fund

Ann Nichols

Sheila Blake

Dean Alper

Isabel Allende 

Nicolas Frias

Martin Cruz & Emily Smith

Michael Krasny

Laura Laesecke & Michael Kurinij

Ron & Barbara Cook Family Fund

Stuart & Carla Gordon Charitable Fund

April H. Salisbury

Mike & Janet Finn

Ernest & Leslie Zomalt

Carol Holt Bedell

Diane Kefauver

Joan Edmunds

Christina Taft

Karen Uyesugi

Nancy Weirum/Galaxy Productions

Paul ‘L.P.’ Hansen

Susette Lyons

Aimee Whitman

Wallace McOuat & Claire Young

Stephen DeLapp

Sarah Lichtenstein

Vicki  & Steve Beck

Randy Hershkowitz

Barbara Endean

Jim Fayollat & Dasha Jamiyan

Doris Constenius

Cathy Ann Taylor

Cynthia Richards

Brenda Schmidt

Elizabeth Rousseau

Karen Wolk Feinstein

Terry & Jenifer Readdick

Cornelia Schulz

Dan Miller

Susan Lijewski

Anita Lijewski

Ruth Scott

Kay Klumb

Dolores M. Hovey Trust

Mike & Billie Strauss

Phil & Debra White

Rusty Gutwillig

Stephen & Britt Thal

Neil & Anne Harper Family fund

Bob Law

Joan Wager

Anne & Frank Hayden

Alfred E. Janssen

Susan L. Burrell

Janice Borrow

Warren Perry

Tom Perry

James O’Reilly

John & Jeri Flinn

Larry Habegger

Alice Treinis

Gina Park

Michelle LaCagnina

Carla Pena Gaiser

Tom Harriman

Jeff & Nancy Harriman

Ron & Erica Rubenstein

John Larkin

Rod Sacconaghi

Tyler Glenn

Albert Fisk & Judith Harris

Bill Fisk & Susan Honey

Bruce Encke

Diane White

Jeffrey S. Rudsten & Susan J. Kay

Eve Bergeron

Lloyd & Jane Wiborg

Steve Beckwith

Hal & Carol Sherley

Karen Gerken & David Griffin

Cia & Pat Donahue

Jay Mancini/The Mancini Company

Elizabeth Calvert

James Nelson

Rodger Young

Pat Van Buren

Lauren James

Alyson McMinn

Jarrett  & Mary Wyant

Van Hazewinkel

Gail Billions Thompson

Gerald & Shela Bordin

N.T. Ricker

Anne Sigmon

Toni Murphy

Jan Leklikner

Christian Hummel

Rene Kunz

Sharon Morris

Kathryn & Peter Fudge

Neil Schaefer

Meralee K. Goldman & Jay A. Canel

Georgia LaMar

Michael & Suchinda Heavener

Gary Buslik

Rachael Vasquez

Dennis Porter

Elizabeth Muench

Tom Neuberger 

Tamara Goldsmith & Randy Zucker

Anne Hoffman

Dyanne & Kevin Howley

Patrick Bennett

Claudio Sanna

Dale Kennedy

Pam & Dwight Jewson

Gretchen Taylor

Carolyn & Kevin Martin

Laren Hockinson

Catherine Howard

Kaye McKinzie

Robert & Suzanne Mellor

Brad Newsham

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