CITES sets up Group for checks on tiger farming on Indian proposal

New Delhi, Jul 29 (UNI) India has been successful in persuading the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES) to form a working group for monitoring efforts to restrict captive tiger farming.

''We consider it as our major success as there was no adequate monitoring of whether the tigers were being bred for trade in their parts or just to help in their conservation,'' head of the Indian delegation to CITES M B lal told UNI after return from 57th meeting held in Geneval.

A decision taken had been taken at the Conference of Parties at its meeting held last year at the Hague to restrict the captive population of tigers to a level supportive only of conservation of wild tigers.

China is the main country which has tiger breeding farms for commercial purposes, which India has been strictly opposing. There is a big market for medicines which use tiger parts.

India argues that tiger farming would lead to greater poaching of wild animals as once farm-bred tiger parts were in market, it would be difficult to distinguish them from those of wild ones.

Now the working group formed at the suggestion of India and Nepal would greatly help in determining whether any progress has been made in restricting the captive tiger population only up to a level supportive of wild population of the big cat, he said.

The document introduced by India and Nepal said the Standing Committtee is requested to ''ask all tiger range states, and any other parties breeding tigers on a commercial scale, to report to the 57th Standing Committee on the progress they have made in implementation of the decision 14.69 .'' It is estimated that China has 5000 captive tigers in its farms.

Though China has banned the trade in tiger parts, has the world's largest illegal market for them.

India wants that the phasing-out process should include individual animal registration, development of a time-bound strategic plan to stop commercial breeding and disposal of stockpiles of tiger parts.

UNI NAZ RL ND1402