Chasing a childhood dream: the wild tiger

As far back as I can recall, I’ve been an animal lover. I remember this old framed photo on the living room wall of my house -- it was of a tiger leaping out of the water. I’d dream of one day being able to see a real life tiger doing the same.

For many, the opportunity to see a tiger in the wild is just a dream. Few will ever have the chance, thoug they may at one point or another see one in a local zoo. For the next generation, that might be their only hope to ever see one.

In the last century, tiger populations in the wild have plummeted from well over 100,000 to a pathetic 3,000. Three thousand tigers left in the wild. In the entire world. It’s startling, and frankly, sickening.

Over the years, a number of factors have contributed to the majestic tiger's precipitous decline. As the world’s population approaches 7 billion, land has been cleared for booming cities, and the ever-encroaching human has wiped away much of the tiger’s natural habitat. Poachers, who have few other means of survival, hunt the tiger for its beautiful, coveted skins and body parts. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have long extolled the health benefits of consuming tiger bones.

But that's all we're left with: 3,000. Conservationists around the world have rung the alarm bell for years, and the fears of an all-out extinction are reaching a fever pitch. Tiger poaching, and the trafficking of tiger parts, was banned over a dozen years ago. Trafficking in tiger skins and organs carries a pretty hefty penalty, but the black market is thriving.

My team and I decided to set out to Asia to investigate the trade in tiger parts, to see whether there’s any hope to prevent an all-out extinction. We headed to China, which drives the demand for this illicit market. Of particular interest to the Chinese are the tiger’s bones. In traditional chinese medicine, the tiger’s bones are the most prized of all ingredients and are said to cure rheumatism, as well as increase male potency. Thus there is a lucrative trade in very expensive "tiger bone wine."

We’d been told that it would be difficult to get our hands on this wine, because it’s illegal. On day two in China, I was sitting in front of a Chinese medicine doctor and his massive jug of tiger bone wine, complete with the parts inside. That wasn’t so hard. The doctor further added that he could have a tiger killed so that I could have some fresh wine. He warned us that this was now illegal, but he’d help us get it out of the country and back home. He also gave me the choice of having wine made from the bones of a wild tiger or a farmed tiger, but said the wild ones are superior.

China believes it can save the wild tiger, not by curbing the demand for tiger parts -- which again, are illegal -- but by farming them. There are two massive tiger "conservation centers" in China, together holding upwards of 4,000 tigers. Four thousand tigers, confined in a collective space of mere hectares. These "conservation centers" are supposedly saving the tiger from extinction. Not by captive breed-and-release programs – they don’t release them, and anyway captive-release programs don't really work.

Instead China says that farms reduce the pressure on the wild tiger. Poachers won’t go after the tigers if the centers can supply the demand with a cheaper product – undercutting their costs, if you will. That's what they say. Unfortunately, the economics don’t quite address the qualitative differences between the tigers -- as believed by those who buy into this "tiger win will make me virile" bullshit.

We then headed to a town in Burma (Myanmar), which borders China and is probably the biggest illicit wildlife trade market in the world. There, tiger skins and parts were out on full display. The first store I walked into was selling a half-dozen tiger skins, aquariums full of tiger skeletons in wine, and all manner of other illegal products like leopard and ivory. And this was just one of a half-dozen stores on this one street.

I questioned the shopkeepers, who insist their tigers are wild caught and not from farms. They say the discerning customers demand their tigers come from the jungles and forests, not from cages. I pressed the shopkeeper for something fresh, and she invited me back to her kitchen.

I was shocked at what I saw: a dead tiger lying on the floor of her kitchen. The tiger had just been skinned the day before, so what lay before me was a carcass of muscle, bone, cartilage and blood and guts. She returned with a cleaver and asked if I wanted lunch. After years of boasting that I am a man who will eat anything, I had finally reached my limit, and I declined.

Back in China, we visited the two big tiger farms, which masquerade as zoos. Visitors can gawk at these magnificent creatures, learn a little about the animals. At the first, we saw few visitors. There were maybe 20 people. And as we walked from cage to cage, we didn’t see any educational signage you might see at a zoo. The only sign we saw was a one that explained the tiger’s importance in Chinese medicine. If the "zoo" attempted to veil its intentions, it did so very poorly.

Armed with hidden cameras, we asked a security guard where we could buy some tiger wine. He took us to a back office, where we suddenly saw a buzz of activity. Fancy cars pulled up. Men, flush with cash, were buying wine by the boxload. Funny that the tiger farm and the tiger wine brewery are run by the same company, right? Don’t forget though...this is all still illegal.

On the last leg of our trip, we headed to India, which may hold the key to the survival of the tiger. The country is home to the majority of the remaining tiger population. But it’s also one of the epicentres to the problems that have conspired to extinguish the tigers: overpopulation, habitat loss, and poachers driven by poverty to kill whatever will earn them some money.

We managed to get to a protected national park, one of a few dozen designated sanctuaries for the tiger. One morning, we happened upon a beautiful tiger lazing in the water, seeking refuge from the punishing 110-degree heat. As she leapt out of the water, I sat motionless, speechless. It was one of the most magical moments of my life. I was excited, then saddened.

After a first-hand look at all of the alternatives, I had finally seen the tiger in its natural habitat. My childhood dream had come true. But now I know how rare and wild a dream it really is.