A Battle for Endangered Species: "Saving Tigers One By One"
Battles waged against the extinction of species of animals may feel as remote as the native land of some of those creatures, but one man in East Texas is not backing down from his belief that animals are on the earth for a reason.
Brian Werner’s passion is to prevent the vanishing of one of the earth’s most beautiful animals, the tiger. In 1969, at three years old, he became captivated with the Bengal tigers at the Cincinnati Zoo. His interest remained avid, in fact, grew, to an intensity reflected in his face and in his talk as he shares a vast knowledge about the animal he has acquired through his lifetime of "independent study."
Werner has migrated his wife, four children, starting with one tiger, "Sammy" and interest to the Red Springs community just north of Tyler, Texas. His commitment, plans and knowledge are channeled into several different avenues.
He is founder of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation and its sanctuary known as Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge, a non-profit organization working for tiger conservation, education and big cat rescues. He plans to build TERCC (Tiger Education and Research Conservation Center), which will serve as a genetic testing site for the Tiger Missing Link Foundation.
He has also created the American Tiger Registry (ATR), a database utilized to locate and identify privately-owned tigers.
He offers the STRIPE (Saving Tigers through Rescues Involving Public Education) program, a wildlife education program, to clubs and civic groups, fraternal organizations and both public and private schools.
There is an urgency about Werner to grab the public’s attention to his cause.
Not too long ago, there were over 100,000 of the felines roaming the earth. In the 1930s, 1950s, and 1980s the Caspian, Javan, and Bali species of tiger became extinct. Now five sub-species exist, with numbers precariously dwindling.
Werner notes that there is even some concern about the accuracy of the current division or classification of 8 subspecies, something that he plans to sort out through genetic testing of tigers.
In 1982, the AZA created the Tiger Species Survival Plan. It was assumed by the AZA that all of their tigers were unrelated and thus represented a fair population of those in the wild. But with tigers, Werner said, you can’t assume anything.
TSSP was flawed from the beginning in that different species of captive tigers being used in breeding programs were not properly identified. He believes that this may have allowed inbreeding and fostered generic tigers to occur, problems which create the likelihood of disease striking and spreading throughout all captive breeding tigers. He believes that, for damage control, assessment through DNA testing is needed for these tigers. This would ensure that the right choices have been made, and if they have not, that whatever issues remain outstanding are corrected for the betterment of the tiger.
"If the zoos are in-breeding, one feline disease hits and they can be wiped out. They are susceptible to the same diseases as a cat. You just can’t assume anything," he said.
Werner proposes that DNA testing be used to correctly identify the species and relationships among the managed population as well as introducing new blood lines from tigers outside of the nation's zoological community. He is working with Dr. Christian Zwieb of the University of Texas Health Research Center in Tyler through their genetics lab. He has also communicated his ideas to leading tiger authorities in the country, including Dr. Steven J. O’Brien at the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Ronald Tilson of the AZA. "These are all theories, you have to understand, but darn good ones" he said.
"There are solid reasons tigers are in danger of becoming extinct in the wild: poaching, habitat destruction, isolated effects, and encroachment of their habitat," Werner states. While these are the main dangers, Werner has communicated his concerns about flaws in the 1982 TSSP to some of the country’s leading experts in the field. In fact, he has been featured in over 200 different newspapers, television programs, and radio stations. Locally, TV stations have had him on the air over a dozen times. He has been contacted by National Geographic magazine for some of his information, and in return, correspondence from a leading researcher was mistakenly addressed as "Dr." Brian Werner.
He is purposely attracting all of this attention in hopes of gaining the resources needed and deserved to save the tiger from extinction.
Werner is looking for support for his TERCC facility. He needs help, and he feels there are many people out there willing to help bring such a public facility to the area.
"If the public assists in the building, it certainly would be open to the public," he said. Money is his biggest hindrance. As a conservationist, he said his family lives a no-frills lifestyle. "We lived in a little cabin in the woods until we were able to purchase a mobile home which also serves as an office at Tiger Creek," he said.
"It’s not about things to us," he said. But the thing that is missing is the enormous financial amounts that such an undertaking requires.
Werner stresses his reasons in carrying on the battle to save the tigers.
He quotes relevant supporting evidence, such as the fact that 40 percent of all the world’s medicines are derived from plant or animal species. "And tigers are at the top of the food chain," Werner said. He points to research that tigers are more closely related to people than many animals. Because of the similarities in chromosomes, tigers are playing a key role in cancer and AIDS cure research.
"What if there is something in their blood that is a cure for cancer? What if there’s a cure for anything?"
These are reasons, "beside being magnificent animals who deserve to have their dignity restored" to save the species.
Tigers are protected by an international trade agreement called CITIES.
Sub-species that are still in existence and their numbers in the wild are quoted as the Siberian tiger in Russia, 150 to 250; the Bengalese from India, 1,500-3,000; Sumatran, from an island in Sumatra, 350 to 700; Indo-Chinese or Corbetti, 1,000; and 20 to 30 South China tigers.
Werner said the extinction of the South China sub-species occurred within the past year.
"Based upon current taxon classifications, there are only four remaining. We have little hope of those surviving. It doesn’t matter how much money we put out with individual species," he said.
"The tiger is an endangered species. If we don’t do something to change, it could be an animal our children and grandchildren will not see."
"We’re ignorantly blissful. We probably don’t see the reason for animals to be here, medicinally," he said.
Tigers are not mistreated in genetic research, he said.
"These are not abused or misused in any way and if I ever find one is being done that way I would turn it over to the proper authorities," he said.
"My cats are very well fed. Nothing is done that would harm them physically or mentally."
His "cats" include Sammy and Lexie who reside in a large compound near Red Springs. His first tiger was Sinclair, a sibling of Sammy’s, whose ancestry he traced to be of the species Corbetti. He has "retired" Sinclair. He knows of big cats spread about, but "because of funding I don’t even have money to rescue many in need."
"I’m one man with a small staff. I can’t go work tigers for 60 to 70 hours a week and build a foundation for generations without some help," he said. "It’s very difficult. I hate money because of it."
Werner points to many potential benefits of the Tiger Education and Research Conservation Center. He can foresee it being utilized by students to study the behavior of the biggest cat in the world, a place where they can gain practical, hands-on experience involving many disciplines.
He would like to see the public get involved. One of the members of the board of directors is a veterinarian in Hawkins. Tiger Missing Link Foundation could use more board members to expand the organization and intends to build a board of education. Monetary contributors help meet these goals.
"All I have to do is feed the cats and the operations and build as funding dictates."
"We’re constantly trying to stay on top of the debt load."
These things are not said complainingly, but stated as fact. Werner does not regret what he has thrown himself into.
"It’s all about the cats—110 percent. The reason is, somebody has to be committed," he said.
More information on Tiger Missing Link Foundation is available on the Internet at www.tigerlink.org. For those without access to the Internet, call (903) 858-1008.
Between the Stripes
TYLER -- Going north of Hwy.14, just past the Tyler State Park is one of the most interesting endeavors ever to have emerged from the depths of the imagination. One reaches it by making a venture down a rugged dirt road that appears to have originated from a third world nation, much like the animals it serves to protect. You'll find next to a peeling, barn-red cabin deep in the East Texas woods the international headquarters of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation, a national grass roots organization that is merging. The group is determined to save the tiger from extinction. The Foundation has a three-fold mission. That Mission is tiger conservation, education, and preservation of the big cats through the Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge (a division of Tiger Missing Link Foundation).
The problems facing tigers in the wild are big.
In less than 100 years, their population has dropped from about 100,000 to roughly 3,000, largely because of dwindling habitat and food sources. Three subspecies are thought extinct, and others are gravely endangered.
The Tiger Missing Link Foundation is headed by Brian Werner, who serves as the executive director with his assistant and park director, Terri Block. Werner's dream is big, as are the challenges he faces. Not only is he trying to save an entire species; he is working on a one-of-a-kind Tiger Conservation & Educational Center. Werner hopes to raise $2.8 million for a massive tiger education center where school children from all ages could come to learn about tigers and hopefully be inspired to help save them.
For seven years he has devoted himself to speaking to schools and youth organizations and to the chore of fund-raising. He also has set up an Internet site to help educate people about tigers and to communicate with people who, like himself, care for tigers.
Werner has collected about $500,000 in donations and an additional $300,000 worth of goods & services towards his tiger conservation and big cat rescue efforts, all of which has been applied to the animals under his care. The goal now is to find the funds for the educational center & the continued daily operations.
He also is working on an even more ambitious project, collecting data on the nearly 8,000 tigers he believes are privately owned in the United States. Again with the help of the Internet, he has located about 7,500 of these tigers so far. He is encouraging tiger owners to have their animals DNA-tested so he can add their genetic information to his computer database. The DNA testing of the tigers is being conducted at the University of Texas Health Center, Tyler.
When the registry is complete, he said, it could be a valuable tool for bringing compatible tigers into captive breeding programs already in place in U.S. zoos, such as the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's program to breed Siberian and Sumatran tigers. Werner's idea is to increase the number of available tigers and therefore lessen the dangers of inbreeding.
His commitment to the project is intense and personal, fueled in part by test results showing that one of the tigers in his sanctuary, Sinclair, bears the genetic resemblance to Indochinese tigers and held two genetic markers not found in any other tigers that were tested. What's unique about these results is that there are only four to five of such tigers in captivity in the USA, and it shows that genetic diversity is present among the "discarded" tigers.
And Werner, 35, believes his love of tigers is a valuable asset in his drive to save them. "You've got to look into their eyes and see what's going on with them," he said. His supporter is Assistant Director, Terri Block. Together with over 7,000 supporters and some 90 plus corporate sponsors from around the World, they are "Saving Tigers One By One."
Many scientists are reluctant to include private sector tigers in their breeding programs because their geopolitical background or genealogical history is often unknown. Werner's concepts rely on DNA testing and the genetics of tigers. In contrast to the accredited zoos, he is looking at them from the inside outward.
"They say there's no need to breed private tigers -- that they're all "generic tigers" of mixed breed. I say you don't know that until they are formally tested" Werner said.
"They just won't acknowledge the potential. You would think that if these people are truly interested in saving the tiger that they would be anywhere and everywhere that tigers are found and that they'd jump at the opportunity."
There is some precedent for Tiger Missing Link Foundation plans.
Zoologists have had some success in bringing the California condor back from the brink of extinction and releasing hatchlings into the wild. Similar programs have helped replenish wild populations of whooping cranes and black-footed ferrets, and both the Mexican gray wolf and the red wolf have been bred in captivity and are ready for release.
Will Gergits, vice president of Therion Corp., a Troy, N.Y.-based genetic testing company, is among Werner's stronger supporters.
"Look at registering all the tigers in captivity," he said. "That in itself is going to assist in allowing people doing the breeding to make better choices. It could help keep the species alive."
Gergits, a decade-long member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said he believes the group is doing a good job-breeding animals within zoos. But, he said, "It would be wonderful if animals in the private sector would be included as well to supermaximize" the potential for the animals' survival.
"Think about the American Kennel Club and their registry. Such testing of tigers is definitely possible," he said.
Tom Shille, a conservationist with the National Zoo's conservation and research center in Washington, D.C., also offered qualified support.
"Sounds like a good idea," he said, noting his institution uses some private breeders and amusement parks for supplying stock.
But, he warned, "We don't want to encourage people to go out and start breeding these animals without sound conservation practices in place. This is a very sensitive issue, and our first concern is the safety of the animals."
Other top conservationists acknowledge it can be daunting for outsiders to be taken seriously, and tigers, endangered stars of the zoo, are "power animals."
"Some people will tell you," said one conservationist, "that there's a direct correlation between how endangered an animal is and the size of the conservationist's ego."
That's true, officials said, despite the fact that many conservationists entered the field through love of the animals, then acquired the requisite academic credentials.
Some noted that there's a "great gulf" between the zoo establishment, where the geopolitical history of exhibited animals is rigorously recorded, and private owners.
"Part of that," one explained, "is that they don't want to encourage private individuals to keep these animals as pets."
Werner is also quick to point out that big cats should not be kept as pets. His main focus on the genetic testing of captive tigers is on the populations of zoos, wildlife parks, and those found within sanctuaries. He says that the individual owners aren't serious about conservation, and if they were, they would charter as a corporation rather than take the risk of having their animals displaced in their demise."
Tiger Missing Link Foundation can be found on the Internet at www.tigerlink.org, or you can reach them at 903-858-1008. The Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge is open on Monday-Saturday from 10 AM-5 PM. School programs are also available via field trips.
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