DALAI
LAMA
**
DALAI LAMA CAMPAIGNS FOR WILDLIFE **
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IS
ANYONE LISTENING?
Dalai Lama campaigns for
wildlife
The Dalai Lama's voice
is likely to be heard
The Dalai Lama has
called for an end to illegal wildlife trafficking between Nepal,
Tibet, India and China.
He is appealing to
exiled Tibetans, who are increasingly involved in the bloody trade,
to remember their dedication to Buddhist non-violence.
Last year, Tibetan
officials intercepted 32 tiger, 579 leopard and 665 otter skins in
one single shipment.
This prompted the Dalai
Lama and a pair of wildlife charities to launch an awareness drive
around the Himalayas.
"We
Tibetans are basically Buddhists, we preach love and compassion
towards all other living beings on Earth," said the exiled Tibetan
leader. "Therefore it is the responsibility of all of us to realise
the importance of wildlife conservation." We must realise that
because of our follies a large number of our animals are getting
killed
The Dalai
Lama
The Dalai Lama is
working with the charities Care for the Wild International (CWI),
from the UK, and the Wildlife Trust of India, to promote an
understanding of the damage illegal trading can cause.
The team plan to make
videos and leaflets which they will take to Tibetan refugee
settlements around India. They also hope to broadcast anti-poaching
messages over the TV and radio.
"Thousands will be
reached in this way," said Barbara Maas of CWI. "Eventually we hope
to reach every single one - we will go to schools, we will go to
refugee camps, we will go to villages."
Urgent action
Dr Maas says their
project has a sense of urgency because illegal wildlife trading is
set to get worse, thanks to a new train line being constructed
between the old Tibetan capital of Lhasa and Beijing, the capital
of China.
This
new transport link will make things easier for poachers wishing to
shift animal body parts.
"You can imagine what
will happen when the train link opens," said Dr Maas. "So we are
trying to pour water on the flames as they are at the moment and
also take pre-emptive action."
Other charities are in
strong support of this new initiative.
"Our own investigation
has shown that Tibetans are heavily involved in the organised
smuggling of tiger and leopard skins between India and Tibet, and
that Tibet is a major market and distribution point for these
skins," said Debbie Banks, of the Environmental Investigation
Agency.
The
illegal wildlife trade is devastating populations of endangered
Himalayan wildlife "We are encouraged that the Dalai Lama is taking
action on this serious issue and hope that his message helps to
prevent this disgusting trade from spiralling further out of
control."
CWI
claims that the illegal wildlife trade is devastating populations
of endangered Himalayan and sub-Himalayan wildlife such as tigers,
leopards, snow leopards, rhinos, otters and bears.
Many of these animal
body parts head for China, where they find their way into the
traditional medicine market.
Wildlife organisations
have long worried about this sad pilgrimage, but few have appealed
to people's religious sensibilities to prevent it.
The Dalai Lama carries
enormous weight, especially with Tibetans living in exile, so his
voice is likely to be heard.
"It is in the Pali and
Sanskrit tradition to show love and compassion for all living
beings," he said at a press conference in New Delhi, India. "It is
a shame that we kill these poor creatures to satisfy our own
aggrandisement.
"We must realise that
because of our follies a large number of our animals are getting
killed and we must stop this."
Loud voice
The CWI is under no
illusion about the importance of the Dalai Lama backing the
campaign.
"This campaign starts
and ends with him," said Dr Maas. "If it was just us saying: 'Oh
please don't do it', I'm not sure it would do much good. But His
Holiness will make all the difference."
Underpinning the whole
campaign is the hope that, in the end, people all over the world
will want to save endangered species not because we can benefit
from them financially, but because it is wrong to kill them.
The
Dalai Lama said: "Today more than ever before life must be
characterised by a sense of universal responsibility not only
nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms
of life."
Out of:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4415929.stm
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