This painting was done as a fundraiser for CITES (the Convection on International Trade in Endangered Species).
Although habitat destruction is the overwhelming reason for the extinction of species, trade in endangered animals and plants is literally the straw that breaks the camel's back. Increasingly in our troubled times, money talks and business acts, for good or evil.
The poverty stricken people who live in the environment of some of the most precious wildlife are sorely tempted by sums of money offered by dealers and middlemen for whole animals or even animal parts.
For some strange reason certain cultures believe tiger parts make potent medicine for various ailments and conditions. One kilogram of tiger bone can fetch $2000. Even the blood, meat and whiskers are sold. One skin could attain the price of $15,000.
This, combined with the power of Russian mafia drug dealers, Chinese smugglers and professional well-armed poachers, makes a formidable force of doom facing the Siberian tiger. Many international organizations including CITES are trying to stop this dreadful trade but they are outfunded and outgunned. They need all the support that people of conscience can give them.