The Talk is Over, Time to Act for Tigers

The St. Petersburg tiger summit was monumental if nothing else, made more so by the presence of Mr. Putin,  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Every evening of the 3-day summit there was a lavish event for the delegates, held either in the gilt halls of a Czar's palace or some grand theater. The culminating event was the concert that took place on Tuesday, November 23rd after Mr. Putin's restricted high level meeting and press conference.

On the way to the theater that night I sat next to the North Korea Ambassador to Russia. I tried to engage in conversation after the polite "hello". "How many wild tigers are in your country?" I asked. "No English. Only Russian." he replied. Too bad. In my presentation on tigers I always list 13 tiger range countries with "unknown" for North Korea. I guess it will remain that way for now.

Since the launch of the Global Tiger Initiative in 2008, a series of meetings have taken place in the U.S., Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia and now ending the conversation trail in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tiger conservationists hope that the summit is the opportunity to galvanize political will for wild tiger protection. With Putin hosting the summit and the attendance of high level political leaders including China's Premier, it is time for countries to commit to serious actions to bring tigers back from extinction. Actions such as stronger laws, better enforcement and wider outreach to raise consumer awareness to reject tiger products.

I have personally followed this conversation trail for two years. During that time the world lost more tigers. There could be fewer than 3200 tigers left in the wild. Let's end the conversation now and start getting work done!