Mitra does not understand conservation
Letter to the Editor
New York Times
On August 15, 2006, the New York Times carried an article titled
"Sell the Tiger to Save It" by Barun Mitra, as an Op-Ed Contributor.
Any conservationist with even basic knowledge of the tiger issue can
spot the misinformation and incorrect facts put forward by Mitra. Indeed
it is the lack of enforcement by Chinese authorities that has led to the
disastrous decline of wild tigers in India. These dubious tiger breeding
efforts will only add insult to injury, perhaps delivering the final
blow to wild tigers.
The use of tiger bone has been banned in China since 1993. Compared
to farmed tigers, bones from wild tigers are cheaper to obtain and more
valued in the illegal trade, and reopening the trade could well lead to
the global extinction of wild tigers. The traditional Chinese medicine
industry, represented by the World Federation of Chinese Medicine
Societies, does not
support reopening the trade or the farming of tigers. Unlike Misra, they
understand that any trade in this critically endangered species
jeopardizes the future of the most charismatic animal on this
planet.
Belinda Wright
Executive Director
Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)
New Delhi, India
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