Threats to the Siberian tigers survival

by fabio92 (student)

GCSE Science

Running head; Claim 1

Claim 1

Threats to the Siberian tiger’s survival

Annie Farber

Friends University

Writing 2

Threats to the Siberian tiger’s survival

Due to the rising amount of poachers in the Eastern region of Russia, Siberian tigers are facing extinction and more efforts need to be made so that their habitat is protected.

Siberian tigers over the years have encountered many obstacles to find survival. Mankind has become their worst enemy. The number of Siberian tigers roaming in Russia has dropped massively. These species are encountering their habitat being destroyed and having to flee to find a new area to live. Since they are being forced to move hunting becomes difficult and even have trouble finding another mate. The biggest issue that is causing the Siberian tiger population to drop is poaching. Poachers for many years now have illegally killed these amazing creatures for a sport, food, trade, and to protect their livestock. People need to see the problem with poaching and how it is causing the population of Siberian tigers to decrease.

Many people hear about or see documentaries how Siberian tigers are being hunted and killed. Not too many people though understand the how poaching is the leading cause of their death. Poachers are the evil victims to the innocent Siberian tiger’s death. According to researchers because of low income in the rural eastern part of Russia illegal poaching is the leading occupation that is helping them survive. Poaching the tigers for a living has given a large amount of income for the struggling families in the rural areas (Feldon para. 4). But most of these poachers that are killing these tigers are just doing this to make money and it is not even about having a low income. Many of these poachers see this as a competition with other poachers. Their mindset is about how many tigers they can kill to use their fur as trade or how many bones they can use to sell. They have a very cold heart for thinking about money over an animal’s life. They do not see the beauty of the animal’s life; they see the beauty of the animal for money.

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There are many researchers and scientists who agree on my view on how poaching is wrong, especially this specific species Siberian tigers. Thankfully this issue is been brought up many times and efforts have been made to protect the tigers. The enforcement is called the (CITES) which stands for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Their group is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. (Ahmed and Majumder, 2012). CITES has been going on for many years now and because of this the endangered tiger’s death rate has slightly dropped. But in 2008 statistics show that the number of deaths started to rise again about 20 percent. (Ahmed and Majumder, 2012). Yes, there are laws enforcing the protection of the tiger have endangered animal rights, but now there are people who are still killing the tiger illegally. Scientists Ahmed and Majumder recently have proven that poachers have been going after the tiger cubs.

Since poachers have found new ways to continue killing these tigers, the endangered rate has risen again. Due to the poachers killing the tiger cubs the birthrate is dropping and therefore tigers in the wild are not reproducing. According to Ahmed and Majumder "Now, the poachers have expanded their illegal trade by catching and smuggling cubs that are easier to trap and safer to move away”. In Ahmed and Majumder’s article there is a story about how poachers would steal the cubs alive and keep them in their homes. This was very alarming news for researchers.

Hearing about poachers killing the tigers and selling their fur in the villages illegally was known, but red flags went up when the new issue came up about capturing the tigers as cubs and keeping them until they are big enough to smuggle illegally for trade. "We have had reports of tigers being killed by poachers. But this was the first time we saw that they were captured alive," said Reaj Morshed, programme officer at the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB). Thankfully after hearing about the rescue of the baby tiger cubs, the issue of Siberian tigers being endangered has been brought to attention again.

After the rumors about the story of how baby tiger cubs were captured alive and kept illegally, the government came up with a new enforcement. Being caught smuggling there is a fine that will be received which is a 500,000 fine, because the government found out that the cubs were being traded for about 2 million. The government now thinks that they have tightened the law quite a bit, but there are many like me that disagree. I mean there were already enforcements made before hearing about the tiger being captured alive, so there are many possibilities that people will go behind the law and still harm these species.

I believe that enforcing these laws is not enough to save the habitat of these tigers. Yes, there are laws for the poachers but the laws aren’t strictly enforced. There is many talks about the law and launching of plans, but that does little to save the area of where all this action is happening. I am glad to see some efforts are being made, but so much more can be done. The government needs see that just putting something on paper won’t stop determined poachers from continuing to harm these animals.

Something needs to be done about the rights of the Siberian tiger’s habitat. I feel enforcements should be made so that their habitat can be protected as well. It’s not just the poacher’s fault to why the tiger’s population is decreasing. The government needs to see that only fixing part of an issue is not going to resolve much if there are still so many ways for the Siberian tiger’s to become extinct. Logging is another issue that is endangering the Siberian tiger’s habitat.

Logging is another cause that is harming the Siberian tiger’s life. This issue needs to be brought up to the government’s attention too.