2010

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE TIGER

GLOBAL TIGER PATROL'S 21ST ANNIVERSARY

Urgent help

URGENT APPEAL FOR SUNDERBANS’ CYCLONE RELIEF

Whilst many of us were enjoying our Whitsun bank holiday Monday, Cyclone Aila was wreaking havoc and has almost destroyed the Sunderbans in West Bengal. Global Tiger Patrol has received a request for urgent help from Project Lifeline Sunderbans. Not only is this a humanitarian disaster but an environmental catastrophe.

Reports in the Indian press include water flowing at least six metres above normal, a dozen drowned tigers, their prey and livestock. Even crocodiles were swept away. It is feared that 15% of the Sunderbans’ mangroves have been lost and 70% of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve is under water with hundreds of prey carcasses floating around and very little area to escape the gushing water. We have been promised a report about the fate of the Sunderban tigers in due course and will post this on the website as soon as possible.

Most of you are already aware that Global Tiger Patrol has been working to support people and tigers in the Sunderbans, West Bengal for many years, mainly through Project Lifeline Sunderbans, a very worthwhile project working in and around the island of Satjelya. Mrinal Chatterjee finds it almost impossible to explain the devastation and says that it is unbearable. Their camp is submerged in salt water, even though it is the highest point in the area. There is no fresh water at all. The motor boat donated by GTP is being used, along with other smaller boats to distribute drinking water and provide medical assistance to all the islanders (brought from Calcutta and Basanti) however, their resources have almost run out.

We know that finances are difficult for many people at the moment, so would not approach you unless we felt it was vital. Any money you can *donate would be extremely useful. Please send donations to:

Global Tiger Patrol (Sundarbans 2009 Appeal)

87 Newland Street

Witham

CM8 1AD

Cheques payable to: Global Tiger Patrol

or

Telephone: 01376 520320 (GTP Head Office) or 020 568 5466 (Gail McGuffie) with your credit card details.

*If you are a UK taxpayer, your donation can be increased through Gift Aid. If you wish to send GTP a donation, please include a signed and dated note, with your address, stating that you are a UK basic tax payer and that you wish this and any future donations to Global Tiger Patrol to be treated as Gift Aid, until further notice. The Gift Aid Scheme means that GTP can recover the basic rate of tax back and therefore increase the value of your donation.

For further updates, please click here.

How you can help the wild Tiger

- Fund or part-fund a project
- Check out the events page for forthcoming events
- Scroll down this page for the various offers such as holidays, books, artwork etc, and greetings cards all of which benefit Global Tiger Patrol when you make a purchase.

Please see our Annual Newsletter

Ways to donate

Global Tiger Patrol always tries to ensure that funds are spent in the most constructive way possible. Our advisors in India work hard keeping up with ever changing developments. We would rather hold funds in hand until we are sure of their destination and impact, although we do attempt to get funding out to the field rather than hold large reserves in the bank.

GTP does not have a membership scheme, preferring instead to let our supporters contribute in whatever way they feel able. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in supporting GTP's work, please pass on our details or a copy of the standing order form.

Standing Orders
Please consider whether you are able to make a regular commitment to support GTP's work. A standing order of just a few pounds a month would help us to plan funding for ongoing projects. Its also cuts down our small administration costs even further. To print off the standing order form click here, fill in the details and return the form to:

Global Tiger Patrol
The Old School House
Petworth Road
Haslemere
Surrey
GU27 3BG

Cheques and Postal Orders should be made payable to Global Tiger Patrol and sent to the address above

Donate on Line
Donations to Global Tiger Patrol can aslo be made using Pay Pal

http://www.globaltigerpatrol.org/donate.htm

Match Funding
Does your company match any funds you raise for charity? This is an easy way for you to double the benefit of your efforts. Giving Through Self-Assessment Tax Returns From April 2004, it is possible to nominate Global Tiger Patrol to receive your tax repayments as a donation on your 2003/2004 Self-Assessment tax returns. Global Tiger Patrol will be named on the Inland Revenue's website under The Ranthambhore Society and our unique code is TAE46QG.

This new scheme does not replace the existing Gift Aid scheme.

Gift Aid
GTP can benefit from the tax relief, if you are a UK tax payer. If you wish to send GTP a donation, please include a signed and dated note, with your address, stating that you are a UK basic tax payer and that you wish this and any future donations to Global Tiger Patrol to be treated as Gift Aid, until further notice. The Gift Aid Scheme means that GTP can recover the basic rate of tax back and for every £10 donated, GTP recieves an extra £2.28.

Two Simple and Free Ways to Raise Money for GTP

Switch2help

If you are considering checking out that you are getting the best deal from your electricity and gas providers, you can also benefit Global Tiger Patrol.

Simply log on to www.switch2help.com and check out the options. If you decide to switch providers, Switch2help will donate £5 to a charity of your choice. We would be most grateful if you selected Global Tiger Patrol to be the beneficiary. You can carry out comparisons as often as you like. There is no obligation to switch and it is absolutely free.Everyclick

You can raise money for Global Tiger Patrol every time you search on the internet and it won’t cost you a penny. www.everyclick.com is an internet search engine with a big difference – it donates half its revenue to charity.

One sixth form student raised £8.90 in a month just by surfing the net for his studies.

Please consider making www.everyclick.com/uk/globaltigerpatrol your home page and use it whenever you search the web.

Shop and Support

A few individuals and companies give a percentage of their profits to GTP for items purchased from them. Why not take a look at what is on offer and think how it can benefit the conservation of tigers each time you purchase a greetings card, gift, artwork for your walls, beer or a holiday.

Art for Tigers
GTP is very fortunate to have the support of a number of wildlife photographers and artists. If you are interested in purchasing any of their work, please ensure that you mention GTP, as they are all donating a percentage for every purchase:

Wildlife Photographer
Pete Cooper is generously donating 50% of sales of his photographs to GTP. They depict just some of the magnificent tigers he has captured with his camera during the last 18 months, so please take a look at his website at http://www.lionscape.co.uk/. He is donating a percentage of sales to GTP supporters, so please let him know when making a purchase

Pete spent the first twenty years of his working life in Finance and Management. Picking up a camera for the first time in December 2000, he began to combine a lifelong appreciation of wildlife with photography. Turning professional in 2002 he now sells his work at craft fairs across the country and via his website (as above).

Pete's particular love for big cats has repeatedly drawn him to the tigers of India. He is currently writing a book about Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh. His latest visit was filmed by the BBC and will be shown as part of the Inside Out Extra Series on BBC One this autumn.

Those who remember Christian Pearson's captivating photographs of Bengal tigers, which were auctioned at our charity gala evening at the IMAX® in 2002, may be interested to know that Christian Pearson is selling them through his website. There is the opportunity to purchase them in the knowledge that a percentage of the purchase price will be donated to GTP. Visit http://www.misheye.com/ to take a look at Christian's gallery of photographs on offer. Please don't forget to tell him that you are a GTP supporter when placing your order.

Wildlife artist, Lynn Cordell, is selling signed limited edition prints on her website. "I try to specialise in endangered species and want to put something back into conservation - Global Tiger Patrol is the perfect choice," she said. Lynn graduated from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication, where she studied graphics, but her love of painting animals won through. Contact Lynn on telephone: 020 8293 7160, email: wild@artist73.fsnet.co.uk or visit her website http://www.wildlifearrtist.com/.

Photographer Chris Brunskill has produced a book, entitled 'Tiger Forest' (ISBN 1 904744 00 1), which is a visual study of Ranthambhore National Park. "In it I aim to celebrate the wonders of this tiger forest in this Indian wilderness," says Chris. Apart from pages following Machali, her mates and cubs stalking, hunting, scent marking and playing, there are beautiful colour plates depicting Ranthambhore's unique landscape and other inhabitants - muggers, langurs, chital, nilgai, painted stork, eagles and other birdlife.

Launched in Australia, India and the UK, the book recently won an award for the best self promoted book of the year 2004. http://www.chrisbrunskill.co.uk/

Tiger Study Tours to India

Discovery Initiatives has had a hugely successful tiger-watching season. They set up a new Tiger Study Tour in cooperation with Dr Raghu Chundawat in Panna. Visitors on these two small group tours where able to get a unique insight and actively participate in the tiger research, doing prey counts, radio tracking and walking in what Discovery Initiatives hopes will become a new community funded conservancy, seed funded by these tours. Another tour to Madhya Pradesh was led by writer and film producer, Stephen Mills, which saw about 15 tigers in total. Discovery Initiatives also took numerous people on their own tailor-made wildlife and cultural safaris and other small group tours last year. For 2004/5 period they will be running some new tours including a 'Wildlife of India' course based in Pench, a tour incorporating Bandavgarh, Panna and Dudhwa, once again with Stephen Mills, who will also be leading a tour to the lions of Gujarat and the Runn of Kutch. Please call Discovery Intiatives on +44 (0)1285 643333 or view the website for details http://www.discoveryinitiatives.com/

Tiger Greetings Card by Rose Corcoran

You can tell that talented wildlife artist, Rose Corcoran, has really studied the tiger and the other subjects of her paintings. Rose has generously donated one of her drawings, working with the Clowes Group to produce a tiger greeting card to help raise funds for GTP's work in India.

Rose Corcoran's card 'Machali', depicting a Ranthambhore tigress, is blank inside to allow it to be used for all occasions. Look out for them in the shops (RRP £1.99) or you can send GTP a cheque for £11.94 (made payable to Global Tiger Patrol) for a packet of six identical cards with envelopes (postage and packing included).