(A
Bourne & Shepherd photograph of the Prince of Wales posing with
members of his hunting party and the tiger he killed during a tour of
India, 1875. Image source: hyperallergic.com)
Tiger hunting
Tiger hunting is the capture and killing of tigers. Humans are the tigers' most significant predator, and illegal poaching is a major threat to the tigers. The Bengal tiger is the most common subspecies of tiger, constituting approximately 80% of the entire tiger population in Indian Sub-Continent,[1] and is endemic to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and India. Tigers have mythological, cultural and religious significance in these countries.[2] Foreign invaders saw hunting of tigers as a symbol of masculinity and an adventurous sporting event.[3]
It has been hunted in these countries for centuries. In 1924, the tiger
population in Asia was estimated to be more than 100,000. However,
within less than a hundred years, it had declined to fewer than 3,200.[4] Tigers have historically been a popular big game
animal and has been hunted for prestige as well as for taking trophies.
Extensive poaching has continued even after such hunting became illegal
and legal protection was provided to the tiger. Now a conservation-reliant endangered species, the majority of the world's tigers live in captivity.[5]
Tigers were once considered to be harder to hunt than lions, due to
their habit of living alone in dense cover and not noisily asserting
their presence with roars as often.[6]
Historically, tigers have been hunted on foot, horseback, elephant-back, and from machans. Any of these involved considerable danger and the hunting of a tiger had been considered a manly and a courageous feat with game, trophies being collected as the symbols of valor and prestige. Accounts of British royalty photographed aside dead tiger carcasses during the late 19th and early 20th centuries depict the construction of the successful conquest of Indian nature, thus symbolizing the imperial, masculine identities desired by the British.[7] In some places such as China, tigers were also perceived to be a threat to human life in the area, so those who managed to kill them were hailed as heroes to the general public.
In 1986, it was discovered that tigers were declining rapidly due to being poisoned, snared or shot and then smuggled out of India to supply medicinal manufacturers in China.[8] By 1992, the trade industry paid a total of $12.4 million for 200 tigers that were harvested by poachers.[8] Since that time, the Chinese have banned poaching and the tiger part trade. However, this has only increased the value of poached tigers. Individual poachers now get approximately $800 per tiger, but those associated with well-known established gangs can receive up to $5,000 per body received.[8] In addition to poaching, to compensate for the banning of trade in tiger parts, China has begun harvesting tigers by means of "tiger farming."[9] This enables them to breed captive tigers for the purpose of selling their parts.
India
From time immemorial, humans and tigers have co-existed throughout the Indian subcontinent.[10] In fact, tigers were revered and worshiped in the forests and grasslands it shared with people throughout the region.[11] While the tigers in India were widely extant and not threatened up to the first decades of the twentieth century, hunting and habitat loss reduced their population in India from 40,000 to less than 1,800-DURING BRITISH RULE in a mere hundred years.[12] Despite the prevalence of tiger hunting as a royal sport for centuries, the consequences were larger during the British Raj due to the hunters' use of far superior firepower, and their interest to hunt shared by a much larger number of colonial aristocrats led to further depletion. Hunting events were chronicled in detail by the British officers in their personal diaries, memoirs, official gazetteers and their photographs,[13] with successful tiger hunts being seen as a symbol of the successful conquest of nature by civilised, manly Britons.[14] British rulers enacted Forest Act of 1878 which enabled them to treat forest area as hunting grounds.[13] British officially killed 1,579 tigers in the year 1878.[15] In 1882, the British officials paid £4800 in rewards for killing 1,726 tigers.[16] Maharaja of Surguja killed 1,710 tigers in his hunting quests. George Yule, a British civil servant in Bengal Presidency had killed more than 400 tigers during his administration. Duke of Windsor shot 17 tigers in one week in 1921[17] King George V on his visit to Colonial India in 1911 killed 39 tigers in a matter of 10 days[18] One of these is on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.[19]
As of 2022, India contains 75 percent of the global tiger population.[20]
Tigers in traditional Chinese medicine
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Tigers in traditional Chinese medicine
Tiger bones and nearly all body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine for a range of purported uses, including pain killers. When combined with the high prices that furs fetch on the black market and destruction of habitat, poaching for medicinal uses has greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. A century ago, it is estimated that there were over 100,000 tigers in the world; now, global numbers may be below 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals. There is no scientific corroboration to these beliefs, which include:
- The tail of the tiger is sometimes ground and mixed with soap to create an ointment for use in treating skin cancer.
- The bones found in the tip of the tiger's tail are said to ward off evil spirits.
- Crushed tiger bones added to wine, served as a Taiwanese general tonic.
- The feet of a tiger, when dipped in palm oil and hung in front of a door, are said to diminish the likelihood of evil spirits from entering.
- Tiger's skin is said to cure a fever caused by ghosts. To use it effectively, the user must sit on the tiger's skin, but beware. If too much time is spent on the tiger's skin, legend says the user will become a tiger.
- Adding honey to the gallstones and applying the combination to the hands and feet is said to effectively treat abscesses.
- Burnt tiger hair can allegedly drive away centipedes.
- Mixing the brain of a tiger with oil and rubbing the mixture on your body is an alleged cure for both laziness and acne.
- Rolling the eyeballs into pills is an alleged remedy for convulsions.
- The whiskers are used to cure toothaches.
- One will allegedly possess courage and shall be protected from sudden fright by wearing a tiger's claw as a piece of jewellery or carrying one in a pocket.
- Strength, cunning, and courage can allegedly be obtained by consuming a tiger's heart.
- Floating ribs of a tiger are considered a good luck talisman.
- The tiger's penis is said to be an aphrodisiac.
- Small bones in a tiger's feet tied to a child's wrists are said to be a sure cure for convulsions.[22]
On 15 March 2010, the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) issued a statement regarding the use of endangered species for medicinal purposes. Huang Jianyin, Deputy Secretary of WFCMS, addressing the conference, issued the following statement: "Tiger conservation has become a political issue in the world. Therefore it is necessary for the traditional Chinese medicine industry to support the conservation of endangered species, including tigers".[23] As TCM practitioners push to remove endangered species from the "ingredients list," they are being met by farmers hoping to reignite the demand for TCM-based medicinal products, such as Tiger Bone Wine.
Tiger farming is partially, if not fully, responsible for reigniting the demand for tiger-based medicinal products. At Xiongsen bear and tiger farm in Guilin, China, as many as 200,000 bottles of tiger bone wine are being produced annually. (Jacobs 2010) Parks such as Xiongsen profit off branding their wine as holistic medicinal remedies, meeting the market demand for prior medicinal practices. While TCM practitioners attempt to move away from the use of endangered species, tiger farms are reigniting this demand. Today, tiger farmers in China are pushing their government to lift the ban on tiger part sales.
In 2007, farmers fought to have the ban lifted, citing that, "[t]he poaching of wild tigers for traditional medicine would diminish substantially if tigers, which breed prolifically in captivity – could be farmed for food." However, this goes directly against the reasons for which these establishments were created – for reintroducing the endangered species back into the wild. If tiger farming is allowed, the population of wild tigers will be directly affected. One of the first noticeable factors will be the growth in demand for a natural product (wild vs captive bred). The consequence of ignoring these dire issues will be detrimental to the population of tigers. Most alarmingly, it is projected that within the next decade, the species of tigers may go extinct. "James Leape, director general of the World Wildlife Fund, told the meeting in St. Petersburg that if the proper protective measures aren't taken, tigers may disappear by 2022, the next Chinese calendar year of the tiger." (Titova 2010)[24][25][26]
