Hitting fur in the high Himalayas, From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006

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>From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

 

 

Hitting fur in the high Himalayas

 

NEW DELHI, CHENNAI--Rajas-than police on

February 3, 2006 arrested Nepal-based Tibetan

wildlife trafficker Tshering Nema, also known as

Neema Kampa, in north Delhi, finding him in

alleged possession of the skins of 34 leopards

and four otters.

" The consignment was en route to Siliguri

in West Bengal, " reported the Times of India

News Network, " to be then dispatched to Tibet

through Nepal. "

Identified by the Indo Asian News Service

as " an associate of notorious poacher Sansar

Chand, " Nema is believed to have been a kingpin

in the gang that in 2004 exterminated tigers

within the Sariska tiger reserve, significantly

reduced the Ranthambore reserve population, and

poached down the populations at 12 of India's 25

other tiger reserves.

Nema allegedly relayed poached pelts to

Tibet via his father, Tamdin Vangyal of Nepal.

Rajasthan Police spokesperson A.K. Jain said that

Vangyal was also in Delhi when Nema was nabbed,

but eluded arrest.

" We have learnt that Vangyal was earlier

arrested in Nepal with a consignment of 100 rhino

skins, but was released, " Jain said.

First arrested for tiger pelt trafficking

in 1974, ringleader Sansar Chand drew a

five-year prison term in 2004, was released on

bail pending appeal, jumped bail, and was

re-arrested on June 30, 2005.

The magnitude of Indian wildlife

trafficking into Tibet became apparent when

" Tibetan officials in 2004 intercepted 32 tiger

skins, 579 leopard skins, and 665 otter skins

in one shipment, " recounted BBC News.

" The consignment clearly came from

India, " added Sridhar Kumaraswami of Asian Age.

" Investigators found a copy of the Delhi edition

of a leading national newspaper stuck to the back

of the skins. "

Jailing Chand and several associates only

slowed the traffic. On September 2, 2005, the

Environmental News Service reported, the Royal

Nepal Army intercepted five tiger skins, 36

leopard skins, 238 otter skins and 113 kilos of

tiger and leopard bones in the Rasuwa district of

Nepal, bordering Tibet.

While tiger, leopard, and otter skins

are smuggled into Tibet, the pelts of endangered

Tibetan antelope, called chiru in India, are

smuggled out. The pelts are shaved and the fine

fur woven into a soft fabric called shahtoosh,

used in shawls selling for up to $15,000--twice

the price of a Chinese car.

Swiss customs in June 2005 seized 537

shahtoosh shawls in one shipment. The pelts of

from three to five chiru were used to make each

shawl.

Increased coordination of Indian and

Chinese anti-poaching and anti-trafficking work

has paid off.

In August 2005, International Fund for

Animal Welfare China representative Aster Xiang

Li wrote, " The Kekexili Special Anti-Poaching

Force unearthed more than 100 Tibetan antelope

pelts during a raid. Also in August, New Delhi

customs officials discovered an unspecified

amount of shahtoosh wool mixed in with bales of

sheep wool. "

While Indian courts have only just begun

to take poaching and wildlife trafficking

seriously, Chinese sentences can be stiff. In

December 2005, for example, the Xinhua News

Agency reported that a Tibet court had issued

13-year prison terms to retired doctor Cering

Toinzhub, 57, and Baima Cering, apparently his

hunting guide. They allegedly shot 59 chiru in

February and March 2005.

Until very recently, however, market

demand for poached pelts was strong enough to

encourage poachers and traffickers throughout the

Himalayas to take the risk of receiving one of

the occasional heavy sentences in a trade that

was scarcely hidden.

Soon after the Nepalese pelt seiz-ures,

the Environmental Investigation Agency and

Wildlife Protection Society of India released

videos and photographs documenting the extent of

the Tibetan traffic.

 

Ceremonial robes

 

" In 46 shops surveyed in Lhasa, " the

Tibetan capital, " 54 leopard skin costumes known

locally as chubas, and 24 tiger skin chubas were

openly displayed, " summarized the Environmental

News Service. " Seven whole fresh leopard skins

were presented for sale and, within 24 hours,

investigators were offered three whole, fresh

tiger skins. "

At regional horse festivals held in four

Tibetan cities during August 2005, the

investigators videotaped Tibetan officials, a

teacher and children wearing tiger skins.

The trade involves nearby parts of China

proper. " In one street alone in Linxia, China,

more than 60 whole snow leopard skins and over

160 fresh leopard skins were openly on display,

with many more skins rolled up in the back, " the

EIA investigators told the Environmental News

Service. " They also found over 1,800 otter skins. "

Time magazine in April published a photo

of chanting Tibetan Buddhists wearing tiger and

leopard skins. The photo prompted the Dalai

Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism,

to join with Care for the Wild International and

the Wildlife Trust of India in speaking out

against the killing and trafficking.

" It is in the Pali and Sanskrit tradition

to show love and compassion for all living

beings, " the Dalai Lama said at a New Delhi

press conference. " Because of our follies a

large number of our animals are killed, and we

must stop this. "

Said Care for the Wild chief executive

Barbara Maas, " If it was just us saying, 'Oh

please don't do it,' I'm not sure it would do

much good. His Holiness will make all the

difference. "

Long criticized for not speaking out more

on animal issues, the Dalai Lama experimented

with vegetarianism in 1995, then returned to

vegetarianism with more evident conviction early

in 2005.

" When you go back to your respective

places, remember what I said, and never use,

sell, or buy wild animals, their products or

derivatives, " the Dalai Lama said, according to

the London Independent.

" The Dalai Lama has been speaking to the

Tibetans about not eating meat and saving

wildlife, " affirmed Seattle practicing Tibetan

Buddhist Weintraub in an e-mail to ANIMAL

PEOPLE, after joining an estimated 100,000

fellow devotees at the 2006 Kalachakra

celebration of Tibetan Buddhism in Amravati,

Andhra Pradesh, India.

The events this year were " all

vegetarian, " Weintraub said, with " no chickens

for sale, no furs, no overloaded bullocks.

" Many elderly people had come down from

Tibet to see the Dalai Lama, who still cannot

visit Tibet, " Weintraub elaborated, " and he

asked them to help protect the wildlife. The

Wildlife Trust of India also postered the event

in Tibetan. The Dalai Lama spoke almost angrily

about the Chinese destruction of native wildlife

and their treatment of animals. He mentioned

that six people had died during the Kalachakra

due to old age, and that we should pray for

them.

" However, " he said, " the Indian

government killed many stray dogs before the

event [in violation of Indian law], in order to

'clean up' the area, and who, the Dalai Lama

asked, would pray for them? He asked us to do

this. He spoke of an insect that he tried

protecting from the Kalachakra crowds, to no

avail, but joked that it is hard to find

compassion for mosquitoes. "

At the Kalachakra, Weintraub helped to

introduce members of Tibetan Volunteers for

Animals to representatives of various chapters of

the Indian organization People for Animals.

More than 7,000 Tibetans attended the

Kala-chakra, many of them trekking illegally

through insurrection-torn Nepal on unmarked

trails.

" On January 31, two weeks after the

Kala-chakra, the first report emerged from Tibet

of someone burning furs, " the Independent

recounted. " The movement quickly snowballed.

People have been emerging from their homes, " in

the depth of winter, " and burning furs and

animal skins worth as much as £6,000 in the

streets. Many have given up their chubas,

traditional robes that can cost the equivalent of

two years' wages for the average Tibetan, and

watched happily as they went up in smoke. Not

only tiger skins, but also traditional Tibetan

chubas lined with leopard, otter and fox fur are

being burnt.

" Reports from within Tibet say that over

the past two weeks the price of tiger skins and

other furs has dropped drastically. "

" For the last five days, during the

great prayer festival of Molam Quinmo, people

have been burning Tibetan garments made from

animal furs, " Wildlife Trust of India

representative Pasang Lhamu Bhutia confirmed to

the Times of India.

While the conflagrations may mark a

turning point in the fight against poaching and

wildlife trafficking, they also embarrassed the

Chinese government.

" The recent craze for the robes has been

driven by a different, urban section of Tibetan

society, " reported The Independent. " While most

Tibetans are still poor, in the cities there is

growing wealth, and that has fuelled a fashion

for the robes. "

" This trend has less to do with old

customs than with new money, " World Wildlife

Fund China director Dawa Tsering told The

Independent.

Customers for fur chupas include not only

Tibetans, but also " Chinese people traveling to

Tibet especially to buy tiger skins to decorate

their homes, and even some Europeans, " The

Independent alleged.

" Although it appears that it is the Dalai

Lama alone who has the moral authority to turn

Tibetans so dramatically against animal skins,

his involvement is causing trouble with the

Chinese authorities, " The Independent continued,

" who regard the exiled spiritual leader as a

threat, despite his calls in recent years for

rapprochement. "

Reported Yudhajit Shankar Das, New Delhi

correspondent to The Statesman, of Kolkata, on

February 17, " According to sources close to the

Wildlife Trust of India in Dharamshala, large

numbers of troops and police are patrolling the

streets of Rebkong Quinghai Province, to prevent

a bonfire of skins that was originally scheduled

for February 12. The Chinese authorities, who

have banned even possession of the Dalai Lama's

picture, apparently saw the planned gathering and

bonfire as a sign of support for the ousted

leader. "

" The Chinese government reportedly banned

the burnings last week, " added Ashwini Bhatia of

Associated Press, " and, according to an Indian

animal rights group, arrested nine people for

'public unrest and colluding with the Dalai

Lama.' "

" An estimated $75 million worth of animal

skins have been burnt in eastern Tibet alone, "

35-year-old monk Lobsang Choephal told Bhatia.

The monk bootlegged out of Tibet video footage

showing " thousands of Tibetans gathered in the

Kirti Monastery in eastern Tibet, throwing

traditional Tibetan dresses lined with animal fur

into a giant bonfire, " Bhatia wrote.

 

--Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

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