by Bruce Cox
In early July, a Sumatran tiger, one of fewer than 400 left on Earth, died after being trapped in a steel snare. The tiger was found on an acacia plantation owned by Sinar Mas, a notorious rainforest destroyer. In 1930, there were three subspecies of unique, majestic tigers found in Indonesia. Today, two of them are extinct and the last one is in real trouble.
The Sumatran tiger is classified as “critically endangered” – on the brink of extinction and barely hanging on. They’ve lost 93 percent of their habitat because companies like Sinar Mas and its subsidiary Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) are destroying their forest homes. Tigers, like the one killed, have no choice but to roam out of their natural territory where they are easily slaughtered by poachers or trapped in snares by the people who move in.
To stop this, Greenpeace needs your help to expose the massacre, pressure corporations to cut ties with APP and fight on the ground to save these last remaining Sumatran tigers. (www.greenpeace.org) Greenpeace takes absolutely no money from corporations or governments. Without you, the tigers don’t stand a chance. Without your action, APP will continue lining its pockets with profits, more tigers will be shot or snared as they lose their habitat and the last Sumatran tigers will just be collateral damage.
With the financial help of supporters, Greenpeace has put the squeeze on APP through its customers, convincing major companies like Nestle, Kraft, Unilever, and now Lego, to stop buying products linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia. By now, you’ve probably seen the latest campaign targeting Mattel for packaging its world-famous Barbie dolls with trees from the Sumatran tiger’s last remaining habitat.
Greenpeace is ready to put the nail in APP’s profit coffin by exposing their destructive operations and the companies that do business with them and to continue campaigning on the ground to protect Sumatran tigers. Please give the last Sumatran tigers a future – before it’s too late.
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Bruce Cox is the executive director of Greeenpeace Canada,www.greenpeace.org