An emotional dispute over the fate of 41 captive tigers in Vietnam has pitted a beer company owner against a coalition of environmental groups who are describing it as a test case in conservation.
The headline-grabbing battle started more than two weeks ago when the prime minister ordered authorities to take action against four families who were keeping the endangered cats in unofficial private zoos near Ho Chi Minh City.
Since then the tigers have rarely been out of the news as the owners have fought back, claiming they are taking better care of the tigers than the government could in its poorly-funded zoos.
Spokesman of the group Ngo Duy Tan, owner of Pacific Brewery, and of 24 tigers, has drawn much public support while threatening to sue for libel those who have accused him of breaking the law.
Many Vietnamese have backed him in the media, and former prime minister Vo Van Kiet said Tan should be applauded for helping conserve the species, despite the fact that he has contravened international treaties.
PROTESTS
As Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to make a final decision, a coalition of environmental groups has written to him, demanding that Vietnam enforce its laws, confiscate the endangered cats and punish the owners.
"The public should be left without doubt that no one should be allowed to keep tigers as pets or breed this endangered species and that all effort should be focused on the conservation of this animal in the wild," they said.
The groups include the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, the World Conservation Union, Fauna and Flora International and local groups Wildlife At Risk and Education for Nature.
The coalition pointed to reports that the tigers were illegally trafficked from Cambodia, breaching the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which Vietnam ratified in 1994.
The treaty aims to stop the use of wildlife products, mainly in traditional Chinese medicine and as food, an illegal trade in which Vietnam is both a destination country and trans-shipment hub to China and beyond.
The environmental groups stressed that habitat degradation and fragmentation, hunting and the illegal wildlife trade had pushed tigers "close to extinction in Vietnam" with only about 100 left in the wild.
They also rejected claims that the tigers were being bred for conservation purposes, saying their genetic origin was unknown and that there have been no known successful introductions of captive tigers into the wild.
LEAK
The letter was immediately leaked to the media, fueling the heated debate, and Tan has since threatened to sue the groups for having "seriously hurt his dignity, honor and prestige."
Amid the row, all sides admit there are few good options.
Releasing the animals into the wild is not feasible, since few virgin forests remain and the tigers are not accustomed to fending for themselves, would be under threat from poachers, and would present a danger to humans.
Giving them to a zoo is equally tricky, since no facility in Vietnam exists that could absorb more than three dozen tigers.
A third option mentioned by officials would be to euthanize them, a step certain to cause a public outcry.
For now, the fate of the tigers is in limbo amid signs Hanoi's stance has softened since newspapers and TV crews stormed the tiger farms and reported how well the animals were being cared for.
Tan said he bought five ailing tiger cubs in 2000 and bred them to a group of 24 now, claiming he was motivated by his love of the animals, not profit.
He said he had kept provincial authorities informed all along and applied to set up a conservation park but received no response.
ORDINARY MAN
"I am just an ordinary man who wants to protect the animals from being killed," he told reporters. "I have created a friendly environment for the tigers. Each month, I spend 100 million dong [US$6,200] on them."
Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat, who oversees the forest protection department that is meant to police the illegal wildlife trade, visited last week and reportedly said he was impressed at "how healthy the tigers are."
Many letters to newspapers also backed Tan.
"Those who proposed the confiscation of the tigers should go into early retirement," reader Thien Phat fumed. "The prime minister should think carefully before making a decision if he does not want to upset and lose his prestige before the people."
For their part, the six conservation groups are trying to agree on a publicly acceptable solution, while getting their message across.
"This is a tipping point for conservation," said Sulma Warne, Greater Mekong coordinator of TRAFFIC. "If inappropriate decisions are made here, we're setting a precedent for other endangered species."
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