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Addressing tiger trade beyond the Tiger Range

In the USA, on 29 July the House of Representatives passed H.R. 263, the Big Cat Public Safety Act and on 6 December it was passed unanimously by the Senate. This legislation will help prevent captive tigers from ending up in the illegal trade in tiger parts and products, which is a primary threat to the species in the wild. The new law will also help ensure the welfare of captive big cats, as well as public safety, by requiring facilities to obtain a federal permit for big cat ownership. Through these actions, information will be provided on who owns them, when they're sold or traded and what happens to their parts when they die. The new law sends a message to the world, particularly to places in which tiger farms help fuel the illegal big cat trade - like China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam - that the US stands strong against wildlife crime. In addition to WWF’s direct lobbying efforts, nearly 690,000 WWF activists have sent messages to their Members of Congress to urge support for this critical piece of legislation. WWF US’s statement can be found here. 

Following the WWF and TRAFFIC report released in 2020 on the EU’s role in tiger trade, EU Member States have continued to work towards the development of EU Guidance on tiger trade. This year Slovakia and the Czech Republic have continued to lead on this with TRAFFIC support, with thanks to WWF Germany funding.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

In March the 74^th meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES was held in Lyon, France. This was followed by the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of CITES (CoP19) in Panama City, Panama during November 2022. 

It was confirmed that some of the proposed tiger farm missions (they were first agreed in 2016) have finally been scheduled to take place for Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam in January 2023. WWF continues to advocate to ensure these are conducted thoroughly including strong terms of references including relevant non-Secretariat expertise to join the missions.

The terms of reference and the modus operandi for the new CITES Big Cat Task Force were agreed with all of WWF’s key comments to improve transparency and robustness included. In this, governmental and other experts will consider the enforcement actions needed to tackle illegal trade across all big cat species. TRAFFIC’s report, commissioned by the CITES Secretariat, on legal and illegal trade in big cats, which will inform the work of the task force, has now been published.

At CITES CoP19, WWF co-hosted two well-attended side events. At the first we moderated a discussion on the trade in Asian big cats, and the desired outcomes from CITES at CoP19. Presentations from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), TRAFFIC, and the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) highlighted the issues, including the findings and recommendations from the above mentioned Skin and Bones report and the WJC To skin a cat: How organised crime capitalises and exploits cat tiger facilities report.

At the second event, the Tackling Tiger Trade Framework was launched by WWF on behalf of the 12 partners to governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. With the EIA, India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, TRACE Wildlife Forensic Network, and the WJC, the criminal justice system approaches to address tiger trade were discussed in detail. 

In part from WWF’s advocacy before and during the meeting, the CoP19 outcomes retained some Decisions which were proposed for deletion that addressed improved enforcement, tourist markets and the leopard trade, and strengthened language being added to the Resolution Conf. 12.5 (Rev. Cop18) on the trade in Asian big cats. 

Whilst we did not lose ground on the agreement of actions needed by Parties, it is disappointing that despite some mention from four tiger range countries, even stronger action was not agreed specifically targeting certain countries that are not implementing CITES effectively to reduce tiger trade. This was in part due to a reluctance of Parties to champion the calling out of certain governments.

Canines for Felines: Wildlife Sniffer Dogs countering Tiger Crime in India

TRAFFIC-India and WWF-India work together on a programme for sniffer dog training which provides expert training for wildlife sniffer dog squads to detect and deter wildlife crime. This year the sniffer dog programme inducted six more dogs, bringing the total number of dogs supported by this initiative to over 90. Puppies of about six to nine months are provided training along with two handlers nominated by the participating state forest departments. During 2022, the sniffer dogs have helped in making breakthroughs in a number of tiger poaching cases in the country.

Roll-out and strengthening of SMART

This year WWF has continued to connect technology and conservation through the implementation and scaling of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool across tiger habitats. The release of SMART 7.0 in 2022 marks a significant step forward and through the SMART Mobile Data Collection field staff can now efficiently collect data while on the move, cutting down on time, energy and costs. 

SMART Mobile Data Collection now allows communities to gather data and contribute to specific databases. This will have a significant impact on the ability of SMART to contribute to citizen science and community led data collection efforts. WWF-Myanmar are now using this system to ensure continuous monitoring of wildlife in the tiger landscape, as the political instability doesn’t allow direct engagement with relevant government authorities. WWF aims to expand this further in tiger range countries, particularly in Southeast Asia where tiger numbers are declining and are at high risk of poaching.

6 million people are reached through social marketing campaign in China

WWF-China is leveraging the powerful social media presence of Weibo to raise awareness of the plight of wild tigers around the world. Through the integration of Weibo commercial products and interactive content, WWF is  urging users to protect endangered animals, join a boycott of tiger products and share messages with their networks. The campaign on Global Tiger Day 2021 and 2022 reached over 6 million people, with almost 1.77 million web users interacting with the campaign, joining the tiger protection group, and receiving commitment certificates stating they would not purchase illegal wildlife products.

In addition, the experience and capabilities in campaigning have enhanced the cooperation with the Chinese Customs, whom WWF is now jointly designing on initiatives to reduce trafficking of illegal wildlife products.