Sanctuary Movements, part 6

Tigers: Wildlife Threatened

But one of the most iconic mammals in this threat category, the tiger, whose numbers across all eight subspecies in Asia have collapsed from at least 100,000 a century ago, to perhaps no more than 5,000-to-6,000 in the wild today,¹⁷ may find an unlikely source of at least partial genetic rejuvenation, namely, the estimated 6,000 captive tigers in China. It is believed that they may be able to produce nearly 1,000 offspring per year, despite there being no more than 50 or 60 in the wild in China.¹⁸

Finding viable habitat for such offspring, however, presents enormous hurdles. A recent WWF report states that “as few as 3,200 tigers exist in the wild in Asia” yet, in the United States, that number is exceeded by tigers kept in captivity. In the state of Texas alone, there are over 3,000 captive tigers.¹⁹ These contradictory reverberations do not offer easy reconciliations for scientists, students of nature, people on a spiritual quest, policy makers or the public at large. The guidelines utilized by international conservation agencies for determining the risk levels of species are neither singular nor universally captured in the legal fine print, let alone monitoring capacity of nations.²⁰

And while there have been any number of remarkable breakthroughs in the history of environmental sensibilities, we see more contradictions that ever before. One such breakthrough was the painting by the Italian Antonio Pisano, known as Pisanello (ca.1395-1455), “Vision of St Eustace,” ca.1440, Tempera on wood, 55 x 65 cm in the National Gallery of London. There is the Saint confronting a deer that might otherwise be hunted but for the fact the hunter on his horse sees a vision of the crucified Christ between the very horns of the stag and forever after becomes wedded to the patronage of wildlife, an archetype for conversion to non-violence (see Dancing Star Foundation video) and the reverence for nature.²¹

Obviously, the same pillar of revelatory transition from violence to non-violence can be studied in any number of great figures, like Mahavira, Buddha, Christ, Lao Tsu, Saint Francis, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer and so forth. Yet, this bulwark of gentle genius has not effected the change nature seems to have openly and unwaveringly invited in our species. Why, for example, would an organism — Homo sapiens sapiens, capable of great art, endowed with a conscience, with remarkable acuities, find itself capable, as has been projected for the year 2050, of slaughtering a staggering “120 billion farm animals” every year.²² MacDonald’s figure is a projection based upon “current trends” as of Fall 2009.

Part 5: Sanctuary Needed: Animals under Threat
Part 7: The Farm Animal Conundrum

17. See Tigers Of The World, 1st Edition: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management And Conservation Of An Endangered Species (Noyes Series In Animal Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, And Management), by Ulysses Haber, edited by Ulysses S. Seal and Ronald Tilson,William Andrew Publishing, Norwich, New York, a Division of Elsevier 1988; See also “Corbett has maximum number of tigers,” Posted by TigerAngel, ; See also”Tigers Around the Globe, Type of Tigers Around the World,”
18. See “China says it has 6,000 captive tigers,” n.a. Yahoo! News, .
19. “Year of the Tiger Begins with Big Cats in Serious Trouble Around the World, Including Here in the U.S.,” Lee Poston, World Wildlife Fund, … See also .
20. See “Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria,” Version 7.0 (August 2008), Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Working Group of the IUCN SSC Biodiversity Assessments Sub-Committee in August 2008. . See also IUCN -Category 1a Strict Nature Reserve,” http:iucn.org/about/work/programmes/pa/pa_products/wcpa_categories/pa_catory1a/
21. See Pisanello. Painter to the Renaissance Court, by Luke Syson and Dillian Gordon, with Contributions by Susanna Avery-Quash, National Gallery, London, UK, 2001.
22. See “The Ecological Impacts Of Animal Agriculture,” by Mia MacDonald, Sanctuary Magazine, Fall 2009, pp.4-5. MacDonald’s figure is a projection based upon “current trends” as of Fall 2009.