Animal lover on global trek to get world to paws for thought for tigers

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Poachers and illegal traders have put tigers on the road to extinction - but one marketing executive has put his day job on hold and embarked on a mission to help the big cats.

Chris Slappendel has given up work for a year to trail the fate of the world’s tigers by visiting all 31 countries where they live, or once lived. The 45-year-old Dutchman thinks his love of the big cats stemmed from seeing them on a TV programme when he was just eight years old. One month into his epic journey, he spoke to 7DAYS during a stopover in Dubai on his way to Tajikistan.

Over the past century, wild tiger populations have dropped dramatically from 100,000 to an estimated 2,500.

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   Chris Slappendel has given up work for a year to trail the fate of the world’s tigers by visiting all 31 countries where they live

Chris aims to help save them through raising awareness as he travels, producing books and photo collections as well as a documentary of his experience.

After months of research and planning, the intrepid traveller came up with the name Tigertrail for his expedition with the planned route taking in everywhere from Russia to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

He explains: “My goal is to make people aware of the horrible situation of the tiger and to make a beautiful legacy in case the tiger won’t survive.”
Several species are already extinct such as the Caspian Tiger, the Chinese tiger, the Javan tiger and the Balinese tiger.

Chris says: “When I first started, I wanted to go to India or Malaysia to see tigers. Then I started reading the sad story of the tiger and realised they’ll be gone within 10 years. So I decided to make it a real expedition to raise awareness.”

Chris has visited the site where the last Caspian tiger was shot dead near the Hari-Rud River in Afghanistan - in a bid to find out why it became extinct more than 40 years ago.

While in Afghanistan he was invited to a traditional family lunch. During the meal they talked tigers. He explains: “I learned that knowledge about species is not always the same. Sometimes people think that a leopard or a cheetah (both cats still live in Afghanistan) is the same as a tiger. I also found that some people don’t accept the fact the tiger is extinct in their area.”

Whilst friends were concerned about him going to countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, he said the locals were very friendly. “In Iran I visited a big national park and spoke with workers there. I went out with a ranger for a day getting a lot of stories about poachers.

“That gave me the opportunity to learn what happened to the tiger and tell the world. They need to know what happened.”

Chris says he is also learning a lot about other species that have survived.

He says: “When I was in Iran, Georgia and Armenia I talked to a lot of people about their natural treasures. Brown bears, cheetahs and leopards. They all either love them or hate them.”
During his time in Dubai, Chris visited the offices of International Fund for Wildlife (IFAW) - an organisation that has helped him plot his expedition.

While in the UAE, he heard stories about big cats being kept as pets.

He adds: “It’s terrible. I really don’t like it. In the United States they have the same situation because the legislation there allows people to keep them as pets. It’s estimated that 30,000 live in the backyards of people there.”

You can plot Chris’ journey through Tigertrail 2013 on facebook and find out if he gets to see a tiger in the wild later in his expedition. Also visit www.tigertrail.org

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