New Delhi:
India's 1400 tigers are under constant threat from poachers, who supply tiger parts to China for large sums of money.
However, when Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recently asked his Chinese counterpart to take stricter action against the trade of tiger parts and shut down tiger farms in China, the latter responded by asking India do more against the trade in shahtoosh, which comes from the Tibetan antelope or the chiru that lives in a remote Tibetan plateau.
Environmentalists here are angry saying there is no comparison and that India has taken major steps to stop shahtoosh trade.
"How can you compare the tiger, which is India's national animal, as well as a symbol of conservation the world over, with the chiru? At least 75,000 chirus are still found in Tibet. Also India has done a lot to prevent the trade in shahtoosh," says Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is not giving up. A team of wildlife officials from India will visit China in November to take up the issue again.
"It is unfair to compare the chiru and the tiger. But we are sending a team. At the same time we have to protect our own tigers and can't look at China to do our job for us, though the biggest demand is from China, Ramesh said.
There are only 1400 tigers left in the country. At least 60 have been lost this year alone and with 2010 being the year of the tiger according to the Chinese calendar, conservationists say the demand for tiger trophies has only increased.
However, when Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recently asked his Chinese counterpart to take stricter action against the trade of tiger parts and shut down tiger farms in China, the latter responded by asking India do more against the trade in shahtoosh, which comes from the Tibetan antelope or the chiru that lives in a remote Tibetan plateau.
Environmentalists here are angry saying there is no comparison and that India has taken major steps to stop shahtoosh trade.
"How can you compare the tiger, which is India's national animal, as well as a symbol of conservation the world over, with the chiru? At least 75,000 chirus are still found in Tibet. Also India has done a lot to prevent the trade in shahtoosh," says Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is not giving up. A team of wildlife officials from India will visit China in November to take up the issue again.
"It is unfair to compare the chiru and the tiger. But we are sending a team. At the same time we have to protect our own tigers and can't look at China to do our job for us, though the biggest demand is from China, Ramesh said.
There are only 1400 tigers left in the country. At least 60 have been lost this year alone and with 2010 being the year of the tiger according to the Chinese calendar, conservationists say the demand for tiger trophies has only increased.
