Tiger facts

Good morning! Just want to share a few fact about tigers. All this stuff you can find on the net, but I thought I would bring it close to you through the Nepal Tiger Project.

The tiger is the biggest species of the cat family. Tigers can reach a length of up to 3.3 metres (11 feet) and weigh as much as  300 kilograms (660 pounds). Subspecies of the tiger include the Sumatran Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Bengal Tiger, South China Tiger, Malayan Tiger and Indochinese Tiger. Many subspecies of the tiger are either endangered or already extinct. Humans are the primary cause of this through hunting and the destruction of habitats. It's nuts how we as a specie in the past can be so harmful. Now in the age of communication  and information, we are able to share our values and hope that other people see it the way we do.  Hopefully we can all learn to live together in this great world. Have a great week! Peace!

Canine Mason (2)

A few folks mentioned to me that the canine video link did not activate.  Here it is again.  (You may have to cut and past into the URL bar.) http://youtu.be/a4UWXebCLek

Cheers

The capital city of Nepal is......

Kathmandu!

A city that is the nerve center of Nepals economy stands over 2000 years old. In the past, when people referred to Nepal, they were referring to this capital city. It is about 20 sq. miles and is bout 4,430 feet about sea level in the Kathmandu valley.


Scour the net and you can find a lot of details regarding the art and culture as well as the history of this old and interesting city!

Happy Friday!

Yes my friends, it is the end of yet another work week and I hope you had a good one!

This weekend, I'd like to share something I found out about tigers.

For some time now I have been a fan of the strange and smelly fruit called the Durian.

Its has a hard, spiky shell and is found in tropical areas. It is known mostly by its really offensive odor, which keeps a lot of people away. Good. More for me. Just kidding.

The fruit itself is white and creamy and can be eaten raw, blended in smoothies or turned into ice cream and candy. The smell however can be so bad that hotels, airlines and buses often ban the fruit.

Well, much to my surprise, I learned that tigers are also a fan of this stinky fruit. There is also a rumour that given a choice, the tiger would actually eat this fruit over a human. How crazy is that?!

Anyway, if you get a chance to eat a durian, do as the tigers do and eat it. You may be pleasantly surprised!


Have a great weekend.

Love,
Charlie

Canine Mason

I was looking through the FWS press releases the other day and was surprised to learn that the Office of LE finally decide to adopt a K-9 program to help the fight against smuggled wildlife. But was equally as surprising to learn was that the Service did not give credit to the team of dedicated employees who actually proposed and initiated the program in the 1990's at the port of San Diego, California. So, I am posting this video, created in the '90's, to provide factual information of the process which lead to the current program.

I am a former Special Agent with the Service and the founder of the original certified canine detection program. Along with the three wildlife inspectors stationed in San Diego at that time, we worked on our own time to conduct a feasibility study on the use of dogs to detect smuggled wildlife. The proposal was adopted by the Service's Pacific Region (Region 1). The Region funded the program and allowed one of our three inspectors received training along side Canine Mason, a dog we obtained through Guide Dogs of America. Both Mason and his handler passed the course and received certification. Contrary to what is written below, in BOLD PRINT, (taken from the Services Q&A on the new canine program) the canines now being certified through the Agriculture program are not the first FWS LE dogs to receive official certification. Canine mason was certified and recognized throughout the world. In fact, because of the San Diego project, many European countries adopted the program in the 1990's, as well as South Korea, while the FWS decided not to bring on full time handlers. The Service briefly toyed with the idea of bring on part-time handlers.

6. HAS ANYONE ELSE DONE THIS BEFORE?
THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE EXPERIMENTED WITH A SINGLE DOG IN THE MID-1990S, AND HAS DEPLOYED DETECTOR DOGS BORROWED FROM OTHER AGENCIES, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THE U.S. THAT WILDLIFE DETECTOR DOGS HAVE UNDERGONE AN INTENSIVE TRAINING REGIMEN AND CERTIFICATION PROCESS LIKE THIS. A FEW OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ASIA HAVE SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS IN PLACE.

All of our finding were well documented and presented to the Service, along with our recommendations for a viable dog program. As I recall, a few of the recommendations we proposed was to use passive alter dogs, as as not to damage personal property. Use a play rewards as opposed to rewarding the dog with food. Make the dog handler position full time, as opposed to shared duties (part time wildlife inspector, part time dog handler.)

My colleagues and I received recognition in the late 1990's from the international wildlife law enforcement community for conceiving the wildlife detection program and were invited to attend the first ever symposium on canine wildlife detection, which took place in Bad Schandau, Germany. Ironically, we have yet to be recognized for our efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement which is fine. We did not undertake the program for recognition. We did it to create an effect tool to help the world find more efficient ways to protect and conserve wildlife. As the new program takes off, I thought it important that history to reflect the truth about the program's origins.  If you would like to see footage of the original program, please follow this link: http://youtu.be/a4UWXebCLek

I retired from the Service in 2008 but contined to dedicate the majority of my work towards wildlife conservation.  Thus, The Nepal Tiger Project. Please consider donating to this worthy cause.  http://nepaltigers.org/donate.html

Ask better questions...

Aloha and Good morning!

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend. Now it's Monday and the beginning of another great week!

I had a chance to finally speak with John since he's returned from his holiday in Brazil and I asked him for direction regarding the blog.

We came to the conclusion that in addition to writing facts about Nepal and tigers in general, we should ask questions to get you, the reader, the supporter involved in finding better solutions.

In the past, I have learned in order to get better answers, that the keys actually lie in the questions we ask. Ask better questions, get better answers. Simple eh?

So the question I would like to ask all of you, is:

Could humans (primarily the villagers in Nepal) and the tigers and wildlife coexist? And if so how?

And if not, why not?


Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,
Charlie