If you live in the UK, ask your MP to help us save tigers and other big cats from trade

On 17 July 2019, our Wildlife campaigners will be in Westminster asking MPs and peers to join calls to end trade in big cats. We need your help.

Tigers, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards, lions and jaguars are being killed to meet demand for their parts and products, mostly from Chinese consumers.

This demand is being sustained and stimulated by government policies – particularly in China – which continues to allow legal trade in big cat products and the commercial breeding of tigers for trade.

Captive tigers, Guilin, China (c) EIAimage

At a drop-in session hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary China Group and the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group on 17 July, we will be asking MPs and peers to join calls from India and other countries to end trade in big cat products and phase out tiger farms.

Voices from around the world are essential in 2019 to bolster the efforts of those working to protect the world’s remaining big cats.

In January this year, 11 of the 13 countries which are home to wild tigers called for an end to all trade in tiger parts and the commercial breeding of tigers. India, which has more wild tigers and leopards than any other Asian country, has put forward proposals to a crucial inter-governmental meeting on wildlife trade due to meet in August (the CITES Conference of the Parties) to close markets for big cat products, tackle illegal trade and end the breeding of big cats for trade.

After our campaigners last spoke with MPs about the need to end big cat trade at an event in Parliament in April, 71 MPs and peers wrote to Environment Secretary Michael Gove to request strong UK support for India’s proposals.

We need your help to get UK MPs to stand up once again for big cats.

The Chinese Government is preparing to host another major international meeting on biodiversity conservation in 2020 and wants to project an image as a global conservation leader. Now is an ideal time for the UK Government and MPs to join the calls from India and other tiger range countries in Asia and urge China to end the commercial breeding and trade of big cats.

Make sure you are represented – please tweet or write to your MP and ask them to spare five minutes on 17 July to add their name to calls to end big cat trade.

Tweet your MP

(Click the button above to open a pre-prepared tweet, don’t forget to add the twitter name of your MP in the space provided. You can find your MPs twitter account name by searching on  theyworkforyou.com)

Email your MP

Writing to your MP is simple and only takes a few minutes:

1. Visit theyworkforyou.com and enter your postcode. This will show you who your MP is and you can then message them directly
2. You can also find your MP’s email address by searching their name at www.parliament.uk
3. Your MP likes to hear from you in your own words, so we have provided some key points, below, that you might want to use. Remember to include your name and address in your email.

Key talking points for MPs

• It would only take five minutes on Wednesday 17 July 2019 to support efforts to save the world’s big cats by signing on to calls to end big cat trade
• The All-Party Parliamentary China Group and the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group are co-hosting a drop-in session between 4-5pm in Room U, Portcullis House, with campaigners from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
• Tigers, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards, lions and jaguars continue to be killed to meet demand for their parts, mostly from Chinese consumers, and this killing is threatening their survival in the wild. Poaching has already led to the functional extinction of tigers in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and continues to threaten the few wild populations remaining in Asia
• A recent UN report highlighted how illegal and unsustainable trade in wildlife is a major driver of runaway biodiversity loss which threatens the foundations of human society. This situation can’t continue and governments worldwide need to end policies which are driving the killing of species threatened by trade
• The Chinese Government continues to allow legal sale of big cat parts and products and the commercial breeding or ‘farming’ of tigers, which has not lessened poaching of wild tigers but has instead stimulated demand for their products and those of leopards and other big cats, which are often sold to consumers as tiger or as a cheaper alternative
• Other countries where wild tigers survive have repeatedly called on China to ban trade in big cat parts and products and to end tiger farming. India has put forward a proposal at a major inter-governmental meeting on wildlife trade in August, recommending bans on the domestic trade of big cat products and other steps to save big cats
• This drop-in session is an opportunity to offer much-needed support to India’s efforts to save wild tigers and encourage China to step up as a conservation champion by ending trade in tigers and other big cats
• Please RSVP your intention to attend to [email protected]