2500yrs of gyrfalcons

2,500-year-old bird's nest found

http://www.richimag.co.uk/chickenoregg/

Matt Walker Editor, Earth News

Good for generation after generation

A 2,500-year-old bird's nest has been discovered on a cliff in Greenland.

The nesting site is still continually used by gyrfalcons, the world's largest species of falcon, and is the oldest raptor nest ever recorded.
Three other nests, each over 1,000 years old, have also been found, one of which contains feathers from a bird that lived more than 600 years ago.
However, ornithologists fear climate change may soon drive the birds from these ancient nesting sites.
Gyrfalcons live circumpolar to the Arctic. The birds range in colour from being almost exclusively white in Greenland to usually black in Labrador in Canada.
Like many falcons, they do not build nests out of sticks and twigs, but typically lay eggs in bowl-shaped depressions they scrape into existing ledges or old nests made by other birds such as ravens.
But while stick nests are often frequently damaged, preventing their repeated use, gyrfalcons will often revisit some ledges and potholes from year to year.
To find out just how long the birds return to the same site, ornithologist Kurt Burnham of the University of Oxford, UK and colleagues decided to carbon date the guano and other debris that birds leave at various nest sites around Greenland.

An ancient nest, this one dated at a mere 1000 years old.

The cold dry climate of Greenland slows the decay of the falcons' droppings and various nest sites had built up levels of guano almost 2m deep.
But Burnham was still surprised to find out just how old these nests are.
Carbon dating revealed that one nest in Kangerlussuaq in central-west Greenland is between 2,360 and 2,740 years old, the researchers report in Ibis.
Three other nests in the area are older than 1,000 years, with the youngest nest site first being occupied 520 to 650 years ago.
These ancient nests are still being regularly used by gyrfalcons.
"While I know many falcon species re-use nest sites year after year, I never imagined we would be talking about nests that have been used on and off for over 2,000 years," says Burnham.
Within the nests, Burnham's team also found intriguing clues as to the past inhabitants.
In the 13 nests sampled, they found three feathers belonging to previous tenants. The youngest came from a bird residing in the nest 60 years ago, while the oldest came from a falcon that used the nest some 670 years ago.
The ancient guano samples also gave an indication of what the birds ate in times long past.

The world's largest falcon.

Those gyrfalcons living in central-west Greenland, which is farther from the ice sheet and nearer the ocean, fed from a diet much richer in marine animals, such as little auks and black guillemots.
Falcons living further north closer to the ice fed on terrestrial prey such as rock ptarmigan and arctic hare.
"These findings put new emphasis on just how important nest site characteristics can be for raptor species, particularly large raptors," Burnham says.
"Something, be it nest ledge depth, or the amount of cliff overhang above the nest, is so attractive at these locations that gyrfalcons are re-using them for thousands of years."
Yet the fact that gyrfalcons remain faithful to certain nest sites for hundreds of generations suggest that they may be especially vulnerable to climate change, says Burnham.
"As a result of a warming and ameliorating climate other bird species, such as peregrine falcons, are moving further north."
"As peregrine populations continue to increase in density they will likely use more and more of these traditional gyrfalcon nests, forcing gyrfalcons to find alternate locations to nest in which may not offer the same amount of protection from the harsh Arctic environment in Greenland."
Similar studies have been used to show when whole colonies of birds first took up residence at certain sites.
By carbon dating solidified stomach contents, peat moss deposits and bone and feather samples from various moulting sites, researchers have in the past shown that colonies of snow petrel have returned to the same sites for 34,000 years and adelie penguins for 44,000 years.

o'who

strange conspiracy, have a laugh or cry

brown bread not dead

The whiter the bread, the quicker you’re dead!" – old saying.
Bread made from refined white flour is certainly not good for your health, its true. There is a little known fact that numerous scientific studies have proved time and time again that certain food items that are commonly consumed in our modern, fast living diets that are detrimental to our health. One of these is white bread, a main stay of most people’s diets. Believe it or not, eating white bread is bad for you!
This may be something you won’t be too pleased to hear, but if you want to improve your health, lose some weight and avoid the possibility of ending up with type II diabetes, then white bread will have to go. This hub page takes a look at why this is and why, if you want to enjoy good health you really do need to avoid white bread or even exclude it completely from your diet.

Why You Should Exclude White Bread From Your Diet

White bread is made from refined white flour containing several unwholesome constituents and very little in the way of nutrients and dietary fibre, essential for a healthy digestive system and a stable metabolism. This is why:
Refined white flour is produced from the whole wheat grain which is then subjected to the refining process which removes all traces of the husk, or bran and along with it all the goodness contained in the grain. It is then bleached using chemical bleaching agents which contain chlorine and dried in kilns at high temperature to kill any remaining beneficial constituents. This insipid, bland, tasteless powder then has gluten added, which is a product that an increasing number of people are becoming allergic to, which helps to produce a more evenly risen and air filled loaf. A standard while loaf of bread also has sugar added to enable the baker’s yeast to prove the dough and make it rise. Salt is also added to check the progress of the yeast and prevent the loaf from rising too much, or over-proving.
Eating mass produced white bread can be somewhat likened to eating cardboard, such is its blandness and lack of any useful dietary benefit whatsoever. Small bakery bread and home made loaves usually taste a little better but because refined white flour is used in their production, there is still no health benefit.

Negative Health Aspects of Consuming White Bread

So what are the negative health aspects of eating white bread?
To begin with, as with white pasta and other products made from refined white flour, white bread contains a large proportion of high GI (glycemic index) carbohydrates. These carbohydrates cause sugars to be released quickly into the bloodstream. This causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels which triggers a similarly rapid release of the body’s own sugar regulating hormone, insulin. This hormone is secreted in the pancreas and is responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. Insulin is what people suffering with type 1 diabetes have to inject to regulate their blood sugar levels because their body does not produce sufficient naturally. Type II diabetes is a rapidly spreading disease brought on by too frequent imbalances in blood sugar levels causing insulin production to become overworked, which eventually leads to the problem and all the negative health aspects associated with it.
Other negative health aspects come in the form of raised levels of bad LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream. This can lead to problems such as heart disease related to the narrowing of the arteries. When levels of LDL cholesterol become too high artery walls thicken and blockages can occur, leading to thrombosis (blood clots) as well as high blood pressure.
Another negative effect of eating white bread is on the body’s metabolism. This is retarded causing reduced efficiency in digestion and greater fat storage, which is more often than not accumulated around the belly. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why weight loss is so difficult for people who continue to eat white bread. Not only that, but it makes you feel more sluggish and less inclined to want to exercise. The lack of dietary fibre is a big problem for your digestible tract especially the intestines that finish the job and allow waste to leave the body. When there is little or no dietary fibre present in your diet, your colon will suffer and be unable to effectively remove all waste products from the body. This leads to such diseases as Crohn’s, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and can lead to cancer of the colon.
But all is not lost! While eating white bread is bad for your health, bad for your weight and bad for your digestive system, there is a nutritious, healthy alternative!

The Alternative to White Bread

You don’t have to give up bread from your diet, just white bread. The viable alternative is of course brown bread, otherwise known as wholemeal or wholegrain bread. This is produced from wholemeal flour which is not refined in the same way as white flour. Wholemeal flour retains the husk of the wheat, or bran which is where all the nutrients and dietary fibre exist. There is no bleaching either and gluten levels are generally lower than in white bread, although you should always check the label for this information first.
Wholemeal flour contains much lower levels of high GI carbohydrates than white flour and also higher levels of low GI carbohydrates, which work in the opposite way to high GI carbohydrates, as the low GI carbohydrates contained in wholemeal bread produce the slow release of sugars into the bloodstream. The upshot of this is that insulin is only slowly released into the bloodstream and in far lower amounts. The metabolism is stimulated rather than inhibited, meaning that your digestive system gets a boost in efficiency and less fat gets stored. This is good news for slimmers and anyone concerned about their weight.
Wholemeal flour products like brown bread contain high levels of dietary fibre. This is essential for the functioning of the colon and the complete digestion of food and waste elimination. They also contain lower levels of bad LDL cholesterol with higher levels of good HDL cholesterol. This means healthy arteries and a better normalised blood pressure, bringing with it better health and less concern over the negative effects of white bread.
To finish things off, brown or wholemeal bread tastes good and doesn’t have that cloying, pasty texture that massed produced white bread tends to suffer from. Make the switch to wholemeal bread and you’ll quickly grow accustomed to its taste and texture. Soon you’ll find yourself preferring its superior taste along with all the health benefits and goodness that come with it as part of a healthy, tasty diet.

Additional Info:

Thanks to a comment made by someone who decided to include a comparison of the two types of bread, I've had to add this paragraph with more accurate nutritional information so that people don't get put off by in your face figures like that - a trick used by advertisers to get you to want something. So here it is:

Analysis Of Bran

....................................Payen.. Millon... Kuhn.. Grandeau.. Warington.. Wolff.
Water ........................ 13.90 ... 13.90 . 13.40 .... 12.80 ....... 14.0 ........ 13.6
Nitrogenous matter ....18.77 ... 14.90 . 14.00 ..... 13.82 ...... .14.2 ....... 13.6
Fatty matter ................4 00 ...... 3.60 ... 3.80 ....... 3.59 ......... 4.2 ......... 3.4
Carbohydrates............ 48.26 .. 51.00 . 45.00 ..... 55.91 ....... 50.4 ....... 54.9
Cellulose..................... 8.78 .... 10.49 . 18.30 ....... 8.65 ....... 11.1 ......... 8.9
Salts ........................... 6.29 ..... 5.70 .... 6.19 ....... 5.23 .......... 6.1 ........ 5.6
The above results are analyses produced by different authorities. They show certain variations in the levels of nitrogenous matter, cellulose, and carbohydrates. However they all agree closely enough to show that chemically speaking, bran contains all the requisites for nutrition.
The nitrogenous ratio varies from 1: 2.8 to 1: 4.3. Among the total salts represented are potash, lime, magnesia, soda, phosphoric acid and silica.
There is a full nutritional composition chart of wheat bran available for your information if you want to know exactly what is in the bran that is included in bread made from wholewheat flour that is missing from white bread. The chart is too complex to re-create here, so to view it, please follow this link

children with autism are often abandoned by specialist services

System 'failing autistic adults'

Adults with autism can become socially isolated

Thousands of people with autism in England are failing to get the diagnosis and specialist help they need, the National Audit Office says.

Most local authorities do not know how many adults with autism live in the area and provide no specific services.
Yet better support in areas such as housing and employment could save the taxpayer millions of pounds in the long run, a report concluded.
The government is due to publish its first autism strategy later this year.
People with autism struggle to communicate socially and have trouble understanding facial expressions and tone of voice and recognising emotions.
Around half of those with autism also have a learning disability, but for those who do not - those with high functioning autism, such as Asperger Syndrome - accessing support for housing, further education and employment can be particularly hard, the NAO said.
Three-quarters of local authorities have no commissioning plan in place for specialist autism services and 65% struggle to find appropriate housing.
The report also found that children with autism are often abandoned by specialist services when they turn 18, due to a lack of adult services or a proper transition plan.
Diagnosis
An average GP is thought to see two adults with undiagnosed high-functioning autism every six months.
But the vast majority say they need better training to identify and manage patients better.
And although there are education programmes now in place, there is still a lack of expertise at job centres, with only 200 of 500 disability advisors trained to help people with autism, the NAO said.

The hope is that this report will lead to a step change in how we meet the needs of this invisible group in our society Professor Simon Baron-Cohen

If local authorities identified just 4% of people with high-functioning autism, and offered them specialist support with living independently or getting a job, the cost would be cancelled out by savings in other areas, the NAO calculated.
Diagnosis and support for 8% of that population would actually save £67m a year, it added.
Mark Davies, NAO director of health value for money studies, said there would be people in their 40s and 50s who had never been diagnosed with the condition.
"We would like people to look at our report and the modelling we have done because we think there is a good case for having more specialist support."
Care services minister Phil Hope said the first ever autism strategy would be published at the end of 2009 and a study was being done to work out exactly how many adults have autism in England.
"Our commitment to do this will have the force of law - in the first ever Autism Bill going through parliament."

AUTISM IN ENGLAND An estimated 400,000 adults have autism Half of those do not have a learning disability Only 15% are in full-time employment

Geoffrey Maddrell, chairman of Research Autism, agreed there was an "appalling" lack of joined up and accessible provision for adults with autism.
"With the correct employment support and mentoring, many of these adults can sustain long-term education and career paths in various sectors.
"But at present this is not happening in many places."
Mark Lever, chief executive at the National Autistic Society, said the government could not ignore the "huge cost savings and benefits", identified by the NAO.
"Neither the government, people with autism nor the taxpayer are getting value for money from existing autism services and support, leaving those affected by the condition feeling isolated, ignored and often at breaking point."
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert in autism at the University of Cambridge, said even when people were diagnosed they were often left "isolated, unemployed, lonely, and at risk of developing potentially preventable secondary depression".
"The hope is that this report will lead to a step change in how we meet the needs of this invisible group in our society."

Families share 'autistic traits'

'Autistic' brain changes may be seen in the relatives of those with autism

Relatives of people with autism may display autistic brain differences and behaviours despite not having the condition themselves, a study shows. New Scientist says the work could make it easier to spot families at risk of having an autistic child.
It could also help in the quest to find genetic and environmental triggers for the condition, experts hope.
Autism is a disorder that makes it hard for the individual to relate socially and emotionally to others.
'Autistic traits'
It affects about five in 10,000 people, predominantly boys and men, and is often also associated with learning disabilities.
The New Scientist piece reported on work presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience that took place in Washington DC this month.
Dr Eric Peterson, from the University of Colorado in Denver, spoke about his work comparing the brain scans of 40 parents with autistic children with those of 40 matched parents whose children did not have autism.
The parents of autistic children shared several differences in brain structure with their offspring, including an unexpected increase in the size of brain areas linked to movement planning and imitation - the motor cortex and basal ganglia.
However, a neighbouring brain area called the somatosensory cortex was smaller than average.
This region is important for understanding social information such as facial expressions - a skill autistic people often lack.
Brain changes
The cerebellum, which is important for co-ordinating movement, and a frontal region thought to play a key role in understanding the intentions of others were also smaller than average.
Another US study, led by Brendon Nacewicz from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, showed that the amygdala, a brain region involved in processing emotions, was shrunken in both autistic children and their brothers.

It is telling us that genes, as they run through families, are affecting brain function and structure not just in the person with autism but also in their first degree relatives Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of the Autism Research Centre, Cambridge

The brothers also avoided eye contact - a common feature of autism - just as strongly as their affected siblings, even though they did not have autism themselves.
Other researchers have been attempting to identify genes predisposing people to autism, which are thought to be as many as 20.
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, in the UK, said: "First-degree relatives - parents or siblings of those with autism - may have some but not all of those genes, which would explain why they do not have autism but do show some milder manifestations.
"We have known for years that family members of people with autism may share some traits.
"However, the finding that there are differences in brain structure in parents of children with autism compared to parents of children without autism is new.
"It is telling us that these genes, as they run through families, are affecting brain function and structure not just in the person with autism but also in their first degree relatives."
He said it was too early to use these brain changes to spot people who might be at risk of autism, but he added: "I'm sure that will come."

Fear centre 'shrinks' in autism

Fear centre 'shrinks' in autism

Autism impairs social interaction, communication, and imagination

A part of the brain associated with emotional learning and fear shrinks in people with autism, research suggests. Teenagers and young men with autism in the study who had the most severe social impairment were found to have smaller than normal amygdalae.
The researchers from the University of Wisconsin suggested the amygdalae may shrink due to chronic stress caused by social fear in childhood.
The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Of 54 male participants aged eight to 25 years who took part in the study, 23 had autism and five had Asperger syndrome.

We now need to discover if this neural difference is observed at the earliest point in development, and what causes this atypical development professor Simon Baron-Cohen

The size of the amygdalae, two almond-shaped groups of neurons located deep within the brain, was measured by MRI scans.
Individuals were also asked to complete tasks associated with social interaction such as eye tracking and recognising emotional facial expressions.
Men with autism who had small amygdalae were slowest to distinguish emotional from neutral expressions and showed the least fixation of eye regions.
The same individuals were the most socially impaired in early childhood.
The researchers also found a link with age suggesting that amygdala volume decreases from childhood into early adulthood in autistic people with the most severe social impairment.
Hyperactivity
Study leader Dr Richard Davidson said the findings pointed towards a model of autism where the brain first reacts to stress brought on by fear of people by becoming hyperactive, which eventually leads to cell death and shrinkage.
Children with autism who have the least difficulty with social interaction would have slower amygdala shrinkage than those who struggled the most.
He said the findings could account for more than half the differences in social impairment in people with autism.
An earlier study published by Dr Davidson reported that unaffected siblings of people with autism share some of the same differences in amygdala volume and the way they look at faces and process information about emotions.
He said: "Together, these results provide the first evidence linking objective measures of social impairment and amygdala structure and related brain function in autism.
"Finding many of the same differences, albeit more moderate, in well siblings helps to confirm that autism is likely the most severe expression of a broad spectrum of genetically-influenced characteristics."
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, said: "This paper provides important evidence that size of the amygdala is associated with autism severity and social skill.
"We now need to discover if this neural difference is observed at the earliest point in development, and what causes this atypical development."

autism adult

System 'failing autistic adults'

Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News

Adults with autism can become socially isolated

Thousands of people with autism in England are failing to get the diagnosis and specialist help they need, the National Audit Office says.

Most local authorities do not know how many adults with autism live in the area and provide no specific services.
Yet better support in areas such as housing and employment could save the taxpayer millions of pounds in the long run, a report concluded.
The government is due to publish its first autism strategy later this year.
People with autism struggle to communicate socially and have trouble understanding facial expressions and tone of voice and recognising emotions.
Around half of those with autism also have a learning disability, but for those who do not - those with high functioning autism, such as Asperger Syndrome - accessing support for housing, further education and employment can be particularly hard, the NAO said.
Three-quarters of local authorities have no commissioning plan in place for specialist autism services and 65% struggle to find appropriate housing.
The report also found that children with autism are often abandoned by specialist services when they turn 18, due to a lack of adult services or a proper transition plan.
Diagnosis
An average GP is thought to see two adults with undiagnosed high-functioning autism every six months.
But the vast majority say they need better training to identify and manage patients better.
And although there are education programmes now in place, there is still a lack of expertise at job centres, with only 200 of 500 disability advisors trained to help people with autism, the NAO said.

The hope is that this report will lead to a step change in how we meet the needs of this invisible group in our society Professor Simon Baron-Cohen

If local authorities identified just 4% of people with high-functioning autism, and offered them specialist support with living independently or getting a job, the cost would be cancelled out by savings in other areas, the NAO calculated.
Diagnosis and support for 8% of that population would actually save £67m a year, it added.
Mark Davies, NAO director of health value for money studies, said there would be people in their 40s and 50s who had never been diagnosed with the condition.
"We would like people to look at our report and the modelling we have done because we think there is a good case for having more specialist support."
Care services minister Phil Hope said the first ever autism strategy would be published at the end of 2009 and a study was being done to work out exactly how many adults have autism in England.
"Our commitment to do this will have the force of law - in the first ever Autism Bill going through parliament."

AUTISM IN ENGLAND An estimated 400,000 adults have autism Half of those do not have a learning disability Only 15% are in full-time employment

Geoffrey Maddrell, chairman of Research Autism, agreed there was an "appalling" lack of joined up and accessible provision for adults with autism.
"With the correct employment support and mentoring, many of these adults can sustain long-term education and career paths in various sectors.
"But at present this is not happening in many places."
Mark Lever, chief executive at the National Autistic Society, said the government could not ignore the "huge cost savings and benefits", identified by the NAO.
"Neither the government, people with autism nor the taxpayer are getting value for money from existing autism services and support, leaving those affected by the condition feeling isolated, ignored and often at breaking point."
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert in autism at the University of Cambridge, said even when people were diagnosed they were often left "isolated, unemployed, lonely, and at risk of developing potentially preventable secondary depression".
"The hope is that this report will lead to a step change in how we meet the needs of this invisible group in our society."

poaching has put some rhino populations at risk of extinction.

Across Africa as a whole, rhinos have been on the increase

A rise in poaching has put some rhino populations at risk of extinction.
The wildlife trade organisation Traffic has documented a five-fold increase in the volume of rhino horn entering the illegal market between 2000 and 2005.
The populations most affected are in western and central Africa and Nepal, with one sub-species in Cameroon believed extinct already.
However, overall, rhinos are doing well with Africa-wide numbers increasing by about 6% every year.
The Traffic report was released at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) summit in The Hague.
"We are seeing an increase in the quantity of horn which is leaving the continent," said Simon Milledge, Traffic's deputy director for eastern and southern Africa.
"The main market remains in east and southeast Asia, as well as in the Middle East. It's a concern."
Poached to extinction
In the middle of the 1800s, there were probably more than a million black and white rhinos on the plains of Africa.
Rapacious hunting by European settlers brought numbers down spectacularly, and at one point the southern white was thought extinct.
Protective measures brought a reversal for both species, and in southern and eastern Africa, the revival continues, with countries such as Namibia and South Africa having found a new use for their rhinos as a tourist attraction.

Making conservation pay

Across the continent, there are now more than 14,000 white and nearly 4,000 black rhinos. Live animals can legally change hands for between $20,000 and $50,000 (£10-25,000), far more money than an illegally traded horn can bring.
The Traffic report names Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe as countries where protective measures have broken down.
An expedition in Cameroon last year found that the one remaining tiny population of the northern black rhino sub-species Diceros bicornis longipes had probably been poached to extinction.
DRC is home to the last four northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) in existence.
Hunting profits
Asian rhinos, meanwhile, show a mixed picture.
Indian populations are rising; but in Nepal, recent conflict has brought heavy poaching. And there are other problems in Indonesia.
"The Sumatran and Javan rhinos are very vulnerable," noted Simon Milledge.
"The greatest threat is habitat loss and the fragmentation of habitat; the threat of the horn trade is there, but it's mainly habitat issues for those two species."

Many of Nepal's large animals have been poached No peace dividend for wildlife

CITES voted through a resolution aimed at enhancing rhino protection through greater monitoring of both the animals and the horn trade, better co-operation between African range states, and an assessment of horn stockpiles.
A Kenyan amendment that stockpiles should be destroyed was defeated.
Earlier, another Kenyan proposal, to stop the annual export of five black rhino hunting trophies by Namibia and a further five by South Africa, was defeated. The exports had been approved at a previous CITES meeting, and South Africa says that its quota brings in nearly $1m per year which can be spent on conservation.
Traffic is a joint programme of the conservation group WWF and the IUCN, which is famous for drawing up the Red Lists that document the status of the planet's flora and fauna.

chinese tiger use

End of the tiger tale?

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website, The Hague

Chinese tiger farms house more big cats than remain in the wild

To Valmik Thapar, it is a matter of principle, of human dignity, and distortion of the traditional relationship between mankind and nature.
"To me it is disgusting," he thunders. "It's not civil to have tiger farms; it's not part of anyone's dream."
The target of Mr Thapar's ire is the prospect of China re-opening its domestic trade in tiger products.
The trade has been banned for 14 years, and using material from wild tigers would remain prohibited.
Instead, traditional medicine ingredients such as bone would be sourced from animals kept in farms.

If there wasn't a ban on the tiger trade, I assure you there wouldn't be one single tiger left in India today Valmik Thapar, Conservationist

There are thought to be at least five tiger farms in China, housing about 5,000 animals, the majority born and bred in captivity.
Astonishingly, that is more tigers than remain in the wild.
Animal welfare and conservation groups are virtually united in their opposition.
Re-opening a domestic market would boost poaching for that market, they believe, and would also lead to an increase in international trade, which would remain illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
A prominent conservationist who has spent 30 years observing India's tigers, Valmik Thapar is under no illusions as to what this would mean for the remaining wild populations, based largely in India.
"If there wasn't a ban on the tiger trade, I assure you there wouldn't be one single tiger left in India today," he told a reception at this year's CITES meeting in The Hague.
But there was a wider message. Tigers are wild creatures; that is how we used to treat them and respect them, and putting them behind bars, denuding them of their instincts and their traditional behaviours, has no place in a world which claims to be civilised.
Closed doors
Tiger farms sprang up in China in the 1980s, when the market was still thriving.
Bans on national and international trade stemmed the lucrative stream of material flowing out of the farm gates. Some turned to tourism for income.
An information document which China is presenting at this CITES meeting, entitled The Current Situation of Tiger Breeding and the Facing Difficulties (sic) of the Guilin Xiongsen Tigers and Bears Mountainvillage, laments the financial difficulties which one farm is facing.

The tiger could easily earn its keep and buy its way out of extinction, if we allow it to do so Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute, Delhi

"We need 50,000,000 RMB ($6,500,000) to run the zoo, and yet, the income from tourism was just 15,000,000 RMB ($2,000,000).
"Without a fresh financial support, the 1,000 tigers would be starving. Then, it would become meaningless to talk about protections of these animals."
The farm owners display compassion too for the people who come to their door seeking medical help.
"Patients of rheumatism could be often seen to come to us for tiger bones, but we could give them nothing even when they get down on their knees pleading because it is not allowed."
The tiger farmers receive a sympathetic hearing from some NGOs which believe that conservation strategies work best when the conservation targets acquire some financial value.
"When trade is outlawed, only outlaws trade," says Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute in Delhi.
Mr Mitra's thesis is that money should be made from tigers in a number of ways, from ecotourism to trading in tiger parts.

Xiongsen bear and tiger village Enlarge Image

The demand for crocodile skin used, he says, to be met by poaching. Nowadays the supply chain starts in crocodile farms, which provide the same material at a fraction of the cost.
As a result, crocodile numbers in the wild have risen; and he believes exactly the same thing could happen with tigers.
"The tiger could easily earn its keep and buy its way out of extinction, if we allow it to do so," Mr Mitra concludes.
Some observers point to a big distinction between farming and ranching, which is what may have saved crocodiles.
The CITES definition of ranching entails regularly gathering eggs from the wild to ensure genetic diversity of the captive breeding stock, while leaving enough behind to ensure the wild population continues - all done under licence.
And Sue Lieberman of WWF International believes captive tigers will do nothing for their wild relatives.
"It costs a lot to keep a tiger in captivity, and next to nothing to kill them in the wild," she says.
"In any case, legitimate traditional medicine doesn't need tiger parts. And those who use tiger bone prefer bones from wild animals."
Farming for conservation
During debates, Wang Weisheng, from the Wildlife Management Division of China's forestry department, said the domestic trade would not be re-opened unless that trade would assist in conservation.

Farmed tigers lose their hunters skills, opponents say

A resolution passed here by consensus - ie, with China's endorsement - says that captive populations should be reduced "to a level supportive only of conserving wildlife".
But what does that mean? How many might be needed to support conservation?
"That might depend from region to region, on the habitat - it might be two in one place and 10 in the next," said India's delegate Rajesh Gopal from the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

China has done a great deal in 14 years, in terms of education, enforcement, and banning tiger products from traditional medicine Sue Lieberman, WWF International

"We don't really need any captive tigers," he added.
But Mr Weisheng suggested sales of tiger products to hospitals could raise money which could then be ploughed back into conservation - a very different definition which could, potentially, result in an increased captive stock.
In the shops?
Next month China is hosting a meeting at which scientists, economists, NGOs and policymakers will thrash through the various aspects of this issue.
A decision to approve the trade would bring outcry from neighbouring countries, western governments, and activists.
"China has done a great deal in 14 years, in terms of education, enforcement, and banning tiger products from traditional medicine," comments Dr Lieberman.
"So why they would want to risk all that now, just to give a bit of profit to a few rich businessmen, I don't know."
But some of those businessmen are apparently making a profit from tiger parts already.
Earlier this year, undercover reporters from the UK's ITN visited Guilin tiger farm and found that tiger meat was being sold illegally. The origin of the meat was validated by an independent laboratory in China.
John Sellar, senior enforcement officer with CITES, told delegates that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has now endorsed the Chinese laboratory's findings. That has been communicated to the Chinese government, he said.
If China decides it is not worth the effort and brings the tiger farming era to a close, one thorny issue will be what to do with the 5,000 tigers already in captivity.
They lack the instincts needed to survive in the wild. And coming from a small gene pool, they have little to offer the existing wild population.
But that will be a single problem requiring a single solution. For Valmik Thapar, a much larger problem looms if farms are not closed and the tiger trade banned forever - the final extinction of this magnificent predator.
"History will never forgive one human being or one collective of human beings if we take any other decision," he says.