License to Kill (II)
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanA few days ago, I wrote an entry about the decline of the tiger in the wild and the effects of poaching on the remaining numbers. This was in response to an article in the Times concerning China's decision to legalise the trade in tiger products.
It's the sort of thing that gets conservationists up in arms: the potential extinction of a species, particularly when then agent of that extinction is man.
A friend of mine in the US pointed me at this article in the New York Times, published three years ago, in August 2006.
It's an interesting approach, and before anyone raises the objection "but the tiger will be extinct in the wild!" this is actually the case with lots of common species. Bos primigenius has been extinct in the wild since 1627, but there are plenty of cows around...
It depends upon what we want, really, doesn't it? Is it enough for tigers to survive as a species, but in captivity only, or do we as a species withdraw from those areas and let them roam free? If so, how do we enforce it - shopuld we enforce it and what do we do with the human population affected by all this?
It's the sort of thing that gets conservationists up in arms: the potential extinction of a species, particularly when then agent of that extinction is man.
A friend of mine in the US pointed me at this article in the New York Times, published three years ago, in August 2006.
China joined the international effort to protect the tiger in 1993. But today there is a growing recognition among many Chinese officials that a policy of prohibition and trade restrictions has not benefited the tiger as much as it has helped poachers and smugglers of tigers and tiger parts.
It's an interesting approach, and before anyone raises the objection "but the tiger will be extinct in the wild!" this is actually the case with lots of common species. Bos primigenius has been extinct in the wild since 1627, but there are plenty of cows around...
It depends upon what we want, really, doesn't it? Is it enough for tigers to survive as a species, but in captivity only, or do we as a species withdraw from those areas and let them roam free? If so, how do we enforce it - shopuld we enforce it and what do we do with the human population affected by all this?