Tiger conservation is disastrous, says BBC wildlife presenter Chris Packham

Packham, who caused an outcry last year when he suggested that pandas should be left to die out, said efforts to save the animals through conservation were worthless.


"Tiger conservation is a multi-million pound business that isn't working. If it were in the FTSE 100, it would have gone bankrupt. Who'd buy shares in a business that's failing in its objective?" he asked.

"I'm not saying the conservation agencies don't have their hearts in the right place, but the results are disastrous."


He told the Radio Times: "I do rather dislike the fact that if you do as I do and openly criticise conservation, it's almost as if you're attacking something holy.

"But if we're all giving a pound for the tiger, or whatever, I think we all have a right to think that money is being best spent, that's all. Why shouldn't I criticise if there is a criticism to be levelled? One would hope the vast majority of wildlife charities are doing good - but why shouldn't I ask? What's so sacred?"

There are only 3,000 tigers left in the world, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago, according to figures from the World Wildlife Fund.

Last year, 85 tiger deaths were recorded in India - the highest toll since 2001 - many of them a result of poaching, Packham said.

The presenter of BBC Two's Springwatch said conservation projects were failing because the demand for dead tigers, mostly from China, is so great.

"Trying to keep them alive - given they live in places where large parts of the community are in poverty - is very difficult.

"One of the ways we've sought to protect tigers is to give them a dollar value through eco-tourism, and try to channel that money into local communities, but now I hear that some of the Indian authorities are trying to reduce this, which is worrying."

Packham evoked an angry response with his remarks last September about pandas. “Here’s a species that of its own accord has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac. It’s not a strong species. Unfortunately, it’s big and cute and it’s a symbol of the World Wildlife Fund – and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation. I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go with a degree of dignity," he said.

Reflecting on the furore, Packham said: "Leaving an art gallery, I was attacked by a man dressed as a panda, and an American wrestler who calls himself 'the Panda' threatened to punch my lights out. That was pretty awesome.

"But, bar the lunatics, the fall-out was actually very positive. I received a tremendous amount of mail saying, 'Good on you, you stuck your head above the parapet, you said what a lot of us are thinking and we back you'.

"At the end of the day I wasn't asking to kill the pandas, I was simply asking for an audit in terms of conservation resources, and I stand by every word."

A spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said tiger conservation was vital.

"In India and Nepal, wild tigers have already attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to national parks and reserves, while protecting their habitat also benefits the thousands of other species that live in these areas.

"WWF is deeply committed to tiger conservation because we believe the work we are doing has a genuine impact. Losses in many of the areas where we have been working are less severe than in unprotected areas - a clear sign that the situation is far from hopeless, provided we act now.

"Conservation projects have already helped to stabilise tiger populations in parts of the Russian Far East and the Terai Arc in India, but without sustained work to combat poaching and protect habitats, these numbers can rapidly dip. So it is vital that long term, global solutions are put in place now, before it is too late.

"Imagining a world where tigers exist only in history books is bleak."

In January, the governments of the 13 countries that contain tiger populations signed a declaration of their intent to make tiger conservation a top priority and to double tiger numbers by 2022 - the next Chinese year of the tiger.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/