21st Century Tiger Annual Report 2008 (PDF 2592Kb)

21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report
2008
21 st Century Tiger is a unique fundraising partnership between
the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol.

Contents
About 21 st Century Tiger 3
Our Mission 3
Our Defining Features 3
The Scope of Our Work 4
Acknowledgements 5
Funding 6
Activities in 2008 8
Projects Funded in 2008 10
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
Contact details:
21 st Century Tiger
C/o The Zoological Society of London
Regent’s Park
London
NW1 4RY
Email: 21stcenturytiger@zsl.org
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7449 6444
www.21stcenturytiger.org
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About 21 st Century Tiger
21 st Century Tiger was established in 1997 as a unique fundraising partnership between
the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol. The aim is to pool resources
in order to raise money and to source and support tiger conservation projects in the
wild. Since its inception, 21 st Century Tiger has become one of the top six
non-government organisations funding tiger conservation worldwide.
A panel of international tiger experts rigorously examines all projects submitted to
21 st Century Tiger for funding. The projects must have sound practical scientific and/or
conservation value, and use local staff wherever possible. Project reports are reviewed
every six months to ensure that the funds are being used to the best possible advantage.
21 st Century Tiger is proud of its record of funding innovative projects which keep up
with ever-changing environmental situations.
Our Mission
1. To raise funds, from government, the corporate sector, zoos and individuals, for
projects which significantly contribute to the conservation of tigers in the wild.
2. To raise the profile of tigers through developing public awareness and educational
programmes.
3. To work with the international conservation and scientific community.
4. To utilise the wide range of resources held by the partnership between Global Tiger
Patrol and the Zoological Society of London.
Our Defining Features
• 100% of donations go directly to wild tiger projects.
• Administration for the operation of 21 st Century Tiger is funded separately. Since
November 2006 this administration has been kindly funded by Dreamworld,
Gold Coast, Australia.
• 21 st Century Tiger works closely with in-country counterparts in order to
develop capacity within the country to sustain conservation work through the
generations.
• All projects are reviewed by experts to ensure that they have sound practical
conservation and/or scientific credibility, and are making a fundamental
contribution to the conservation of wild tigers.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
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The Scope of Our Work
Since its inception, 21 st Century Tiger has funded a total of 92 proposals from 56
projects, distributing £1,300,000 and supporting projects in seven countries - India,
Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Russia. The projects cover a wide
spectrum of requirements for tiger conservation, including training for wildlife rangers in
the application of wildlife law, jungle survival and identification of endangered species,
support for anti-poaching units which deal directly with poachers, uncover networks of
illegal trading, and even advise in cases of human-tiger conflict. In Russia and Indonesia
we also fund scientific research, including studies of tiger home ranges and tiger prey
densities, and of methods for limiting the habitat damage caused by economic
development. Comprehensive and thorough research provides a sound scientific basis
for conservation planning and is an essential part of any conservation programme.
Finally, 21 st Century Tiger also funds education and awareness raising programmes
within tiger range countries; vital for ensuring sustainable local support for wildlife
conservation.
Graduate student Svetlana Soutryina checks a camera trap for the WCS project; Amur Tigers and Far
Eastern Leopards in Russia: Research, Training and Capacity Building in the Russian Far East. ©WCS
Russia
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
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Acknowledgements
21 st Century Tiger is most grateful to all its supporters who provide donations, both large and small, as
well as those given in kind. We would particularly like to thank the following:
Dreamworld on the Gold Coast of Australia who generously continued funding 21 st Century Tiger’s
administration in 2008 allowing us to continue to spend 100% of funds raised on supporting wild tiger
projects.
The following zoos which have supported us in 2008: Adelaide Zoological Gardens, Auckland Zoo,
Blackpool Zoo, Dreamworld, Helsinki Zoo, Kolmardens Djurpark, Orana Wildlife Park,
Shepreth Wildlife Park, and Taronga Zoo.
EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria), ARAZPA (Australasian Regional Association of
Zoological Parks and Aquaria).
Founding supporter ExxonMobil, whose staff continue to support us each year through their retail
department.
BBC Wildlife Fund for their support of the project “Recovering wild tiger populations through habitatdefragmentation”
The author, Joanna Skipwith, for the profits from her gorgeous book ‘Tiger, Animals in Art’.
Harald Loeffler, Andy Rouse, Mike Vickers and all the other generous photographers who let us use their
beautiful photos on our website to encourage fundraising.
Hull City Association Football Club, “The Tigers” for becoming our latest sponsor, supporting their wild
cousins through fundraising efforts
H. A. Bennett for their sponsorship through selling “tiger coffee” in Australia.
Dave Pook of Sqoo Media for the design of our website and Candice Chitolie for producing our Zoo
Supporters certificates.
CMO Global for designing our online administration database.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
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Funding
Sources of funding for 2008
Zoos
Funding Source Amount Received
Fundraising Activities
£83,795
ExxonMobil £4,099
Public donations £7,595
Other income (ticket sales &
other toys & BBC)
£6,1067
Hull City Football £1,500
H.A. Bennett £1,050
Joanna Skipwith ‘Tiger, Animals
in Art’
£231
Total
21 st Century Tiger and Hull Mascot Roary © ZSL
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
£159,337
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Projects receiving funding from 21 st Century Tiger in 2008
Project Title Amount
Granted
Grantee
Recovering wild tiger populations
through habitat-defragmentation
£57000* WCS - India
Protection and Outreach - Russia £10,040 Phoenix
Phoenix Fund for the Western
Wildlife Managers Team - Russia
£7,667* Phoenix
The Khabarovsky Team’s Antipoaching
activities of Inspection
Tiger - Russia
£17,563* Phoenix
Anti-poaching activities in
Lazovsky Reserve, Zapovednik -
Russia
£10,773* Phoenix
Long term research and
conservation of the Siberian tiger -
Russia
£10,104 WCS - Russia
Swamp tigers 2008. Conserving £13,000 Zoological Society of
the tigers of the peatland forests
of eastern Sumatra - Sumatra
London – (ZSL)
Kerinci Seblat tiger protection and £29925* Fauna & Flora
conservation team - Sumatra
International (FFI)
Kerinci Seblat tiger protection £13000 Fauna & Flora
project - Sumatra
International (FFI)
Total Granted £169072
* Denotes a fully-funded project
Russia
33.21%
Countries which were funded in 2008
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
India
33.71%
Indonesia
33.08%
India 33.71%
Indonesia 33.08%
Russia 33.21%
Total: 100.00%
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Activities in 2008
Zoo Support
Zoos continue to fundraise for tigers in the wild through 21 st Century Tiger with a
range of different activities. Donations came from individual zoos in Europe, Canada and
Australia. Zoos belonging to ARAZPA (Australasian Regional Association of Zoological
Parks and Aquaria) raised more than £65,400 for tigers.
21 st Century Tiger continues to recognise zoos’ fundraising achievements and features
zoo support prominently on our website. 10 certificates were awarded during 2008.
Long term funding is vital and these efforts make a real impact on the ground in helping
to conserve wild tigers.
Fundraising
Tiger Animals in Art, by Joanna Skipwith continued to be
sold for 21 st Century Tiger during 2008. It is available via the
21 st Century Tiger website and from retailers across the
country.
Mike Curtis ran the BUPA Great North Run in October
2008 in a tiger suit and raised over £600.
Sponsorship
HA Bennett
Hull City Association Football Club
In 2008 Hull City “tigers” joined with 21 st Century Tiger to
promote tiger conservation to their supporters. Since then
promotional material has appeared in match day programmes,
supporter’s magazine and the Hull City website. £1500 was raised
on their Player of the Year night in 2008.
H.A. Bennett & Sons, importers and distributors of high quality green coffee to
Australian based roasters, continue to be proud supporters of tiger conservation. They
donate US$1 for every bag they sell of Tiger Mountain raw coffee beans. £1000 was
donated in 2008.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
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ExxonMobil Toy Sale
In 2008 over £3935 was raised through the support of ExxonMobil, including our 8 th
annual toy sale held in ExxonMobil’s office in London in December selling cuddly tiger
toys to the staff in time for Christmas. We would like to thank all at ExxonMobil,
especially Stella Crossley and the staff and volunteers who helped us on the day.
21 st Century Tiger Website
The 21 st Century Tiger website went from strength
to strength over the year and incorporated more
information over more pages, with more
photographs and reports from the projects
including a new blog feature from the project
workers in the field as well as attracting new
supporters through social networking sites.
Database
The new 21 st Century Tiger database was populated with historical data. Much effort
was put into this new administration database by CMO Global who offered their
services pro bono. It has streamlined the recording of our administration data and
allowed us to spend more time on much needed fundraising activities.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
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Projects Funded in 2008
21 st Century Tiger funded nine projects in 2008. Here follows a selection:
India
Recovering wild tiger populations through habitat
defragmentation (WCS-India fully-funded by BBC Wildlife Fund)
In India, the Western Ghats of
Karnataka are a global biodiversity
hotspot. These mountains are
biologically very rich and diverse and a
string of protected areas has been
established including Nagarahole
National Park, Bandipur Tiger Reserve,
Bhadra Tiger Reserve and Kudremukh
National Park.
In Kudremukh, biodiversity is
threatened by illegal hunting and logging,
over-harvest of non timber forest
products, human induced fires,
unregulated tourism, poorly planned,
wildlife unfriendly development initiatives
and excessive livestock grazing, much of
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
One of the land enclosures within Kudremukh National Park
that belonged to a family that was relocated under this project.
© Centre for Wildlife Studies
which is linked in some manner to the presence of enclaved human settlements within
the National Park. Additionally, development in the form of roads, power lines,
communication or other amenities, as well as new proposals to develop tourism that
aim to provide social services to these families, pose serious long term threats in the
form of habitat fragmentation and increased exploitation of wildlife and forests.
This project aimed at preventing and reducing adverse human impacts such as hunting of
tiger prey, direct persecution of tigers, encroachment of tiger habitat, man-made fires,
fuel wood collection and livestock grazing. It aimed to reduce tiger-human conflict
including attacks on livestock and humans and conflict between large herbivores such as
wild pig, deer, elephants and humans.
Finally, through well-implemented voluntary relocation packages, it aimed to
substantially improve livelihood opportunities and access to modern development to
local people living inside these tiger habitats, who are currently deprived of even basic
amenities.
After working with national and local government to set up a legal framework, the
enclave of Singsara was indentified as a prime location. As a result of this project five
families, (about 35 people) were compensated and voluntarily relocated outside and
away from the National Park. Fourteen other families have agreed to accept suitable
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elocation packages. WCS continues to work with these families to ensure that they
have access to post resettlement support. At Singsara, 29 hectares of land are now in
the process of being legally added to the National Park.
In addition to the work in Kudremurkh, inside Nagarahole National Park the entire
community of Katibetta, a village of seven families have accepted the Government of
India relocation package and are poised to move out.
Russian Far East
Long term research and conservation of the Siberian tiger –
(WCS-Russia)
Siberian Tiger Project field technician
Vladimir Melnikov listens for radio-collared
tiger. © Cheryl Hojnowski, WCS.
WCS’s Siberian Tiger Project (STP) began in the
Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik (SABZ) in
1992, when the Amur tiger’s ecology and status
were little known outside the Soviet Union. STP
objectives were straightforward: apply good
science to Amur tiger conservation to supply the
best possible information on the ecology and
dynamics of the species, creating the necessary
database for conservation planning to allow Amur
tiger numbers to recover.
This fascinating scientific project carried out field research in two areas in the Russian
Far East, in SABZ and also in Southwest Primorye where tigers exist in a very small,
isolated or semi-isolated subpopulation along the border with China and North Korea.
Here research focuses on collecting biomedical and ecological data on Amur tigers.
In SABZ, whilst tracking five radio-collared
tigers, data was collected on movements,
reproduction, the dispersal of subadults and
predator/prey relations. Problems with
permissions for the use of GPS collars held up
their fitting until after the grant period
covered, however two more were fitted in
the autumn of 2009. The use of GPS in
tracking tigers allows data to be recorded
from areas where radio tracking from the
ground is impossible.
The impact of tigers on prey populations has been studied by scientists for many years,
but the advent of GPS collars has revolutionized the study of kills. Recent studies have
confirmed the utility of GPS collars to accurately estimate kill-rates of difficult to study
tigers and to understand annual and summer kill-rates – something that has been difficult
to do in the past.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
A camera-trap photo ©WCS
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During this period WCS also focused on training and capacity building, training 14
graduate students and interns, including seven Russian and seven foreign nationals. Their
work in the field contributed greatly to these projects. In the summer of 2008 the
interior of the Sikhote-Alin Research Center was finished. This facility provides housing
for graduate students, computer and internet access, and office space for graduate
students and field technicians to access data forms, maps, etc.
Sumatra
Swamp tigers 2008. Conserving the tigers of the peatland forests
of eastern Sumatra - Sumatra (ZSL)
The swamp forests of Jambi and South Sumatra provinces in eastern Sumatra are a
recognised Tiger Conservation Landscape. Standing primarily on peat soils these forests
also represent one of the largest carbon sequestration sites in Indonesia, holding an
estimated 100 million tonnes of carbon in Jambi Province alone.
As other available forests decline, pressure has been increasing on the swamp forest and
this deforestation is the primary factor driving Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
These emissions have driven Indonesia to be listed as the third largest emitter of
greenhouse gases in the world, and have also led President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono to
announce that Indonesia is becoming the first developing country to set emission
reduction targets, aiming for 26% by 2020.
Various mechanisms are in place, or under discussion, to provide the economic
incentives to drive carbon emission reductions. Many of these focus on ‘avoided
deforestation’ whereby financial rewards are offered for carbon credits generated by
reducing deforestation from baseline ‘business as usual’ levels.
Within the context of this background, ZSL designed the Berbak Carbon Initiative (BCI).
The BCI aims to use the developing opportunities for avoided deforestation to provide
an incentive for forest conservation, thereby conserving key tiger habitat – harnessing
carbon to drive tiger conservation.
The 2008-9 21 st Century Tiger grant to ZSL was the
first formal grant awarded to support the BCI. The
initial activities led to a burgeoning interest in the
Initiative and played a major part in securing additional
funding from the Darwin Initiative, Save the Tiger Fund
and USFWS Rhino and Tiger Conservation Fund,
which means the BCI is now a reality with a very real
chance of success.
The upgraded Berbak base © ZSL
Throughout 2008-9 21 st Century Tiger
supported the establishment of a permanent
field team and base for TN Berbak. Surveys
were carried out to measure tiger and prey
density in one pre- surveyed cell using
capture-mark-recapture data from temporary
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
The old National Park post at Berbak
© ZSL
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cameratrap sites to estimate a population size for the park. Whilst camera trap sites
have been established to set up permanent, long term tiger/wildlife monitoring, the
permanent cameras are still not in place due to protracted negotiations with the park
staff.
Tiger identification from camera traps ©
ZSL
The trapping survey ran from mid July 2009 to mid
October 2009. Twenty eight photographs of tigers
were taken during this time, representing four
individuals; two males, a female and one separate
tiger of unknown sex. Twelve photographs were
independent (ie taken more than one hour apart
from the same camera station) and tigers were
identified at seven sites. Almost all of the sites were
very close to rivers.
At the same time, 15 other species were photographed.
Most were terrestrial mammals, with the most common being common pigs, pig tailed
macaques and mouse deer, but two bird species were also photographed, one of which
is the red listed (Threatened) crestless fireback which was photographed seven times.
No sambars were photographed, leaving pigs as the most likely prey source for tigers.
During this time the Berbak team also dealt with a
series of human/tiger conflict issues, as eight people
were either killed or hurt in tiger attacks in less
than a month in the region. All those attacked
were in areas of the forest they were not supposed
to be in, often for illegal logging activities. ZSL
assisted the authorities with the capture and
relocation of a tiger during that time.
21 st Century Tiger
Annual Report 2008
Tortoise - captured on film © ZSL
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