Topic: Tiger

[Nichi]

Chinese New Year (14 February) begins a Year of the Tiger.

[Firestarter]

Gorgeous tiger too!

[Nichi]

2010 - Year of the Metal Tiger by Robert Wilkinson

Today we explore what the coming Year of the Metal Tiger will hold for us all by examining the qualities of this sign. It'll continue to be a time for grounding and practicality in the midst of upheavals, where we mobilize what we began 2 years ago and stabilized the past year. This year is about pursuit, capture, and defending what's been established.

The Year of the Metal Tiger occurs once every 60 years. The last time we had a Metal Tiger year was 17 February 1950 to 5 February 1951, and the one in front of us lasts from 14 February 2010 (Valentine's Day!) to 2 February 2011.

Remember that we've just finished the Year of the Earth Ox, also marked by an Aquarius Solar Eclipse last year on January 26-27, 2009 that began the year. You can find more about the past year by checking the archives for the Year of the Earth Ox. And now, without further adieu, here's this year's composition on the Tiger!

THE TIGER

Tigers are tough, bold, generous, and ferocious. They work hard, play hard, and are pretty much always on the prowl except the times they're chasing the prey or enjoying the catch.

As the third sign of the Chinese zodiac, these powerful, swift, beautiful creatures symbolize bravery, unpredictability, and control their domain. After all, who really wants to mess with a tiger? As consummate competitors, they love a good challenge, and will go the distance to protect their loved ones as well as their domain and honor.

Like most creatures in the family of felines, large or small, this sign knows how to land on its feet, even when falling from a height. Though they exude calm and control, they're actually always on the alert, ready to pounce if they feel the need.

Tigers do need to rest after the chase, since they put their all into catching the object of their desire. Pursuing the prey is exhausting to the Tiger! Thus it's always a good thing to evaluate whether they should chase after a thing, since the catch must be worth the effort. However, their strength always returns after a short time, so take the time to rest after you catch your prey during this Tiger year!

Because of their need to rule their domain, they take the lead, and will defend to the death if need be. That said, they don't mind sharing the catch with others (as long as they get to feast first!)

This sign is extremely perceptive and alert, intelligent, adaptable, and magnificent in their strength and focus. Usually Tigers are liked or admired by others due to their inherent charm and elegance. This helps them become the natural leaders they are.

Like most in the cat family, they are family oriented (with them at the head, natch!), and love to groom to show off their natural beauty. Tiger people tend toward being creative and trustworthy, but again, they do tend to dominate their environment, and thus their relationships.

Here I must state that there are both evolved and unevolved members of all the signs. Some Tiger people do not show many of the lower traits of the sign, while others are so obvious in their attachment to the lower that they barely show the virtues of the sign. And of course, in Chinese Astrology there are other modifying factors than just the element and sign of a given year. Just as we are more than merely the Sun sign in Western Astrology, we are more than the year sign in Chinese Astrology.

TIGER QUALITIES

The Good: Courageous, respected, magnetic, strong, quick, bold, generous, intelligent, adaptable, independent, determined, fights for what is right, active, sensitive, introspective, lucky, honest, adventurous, charming, warm, lovable.

The Bad: Fault finding, rebellious, obstinate, stubborn, too forceful and intense, sometimes hesitant, other times impulsive or rash in judgment and action, quarrelsome, willful.

THE METAL TIGER

Metal Tigers are sharp, swift, serious, courageous, upright, energetic, and alert. They have a toughness and "fighting spirit" which assures them victory most of the time, if they don't exhaust themselves through pushing beyond safe limits. They are firm but unpredictable, and love a good challenge.

The Metal Tiger is competitive, assertive, and determined to do what it takes to achieve their aims. They must learn to weigh possibilities and use some foresight to determine possible consequences before they pounce into action. Their conservatism helps them here, since Metal tends not to leave things unfinished. That's also why they really don't like to be kept waiting!

Adventurous, they make friends easily, and their positivity and optimism attracts friends and allies. They have a strong need to be around positive people, and love being at the center of attention.

They are honest in expressing themselves, expecting the same from others. Their charm usually ensures them the popularity they love, as long as their need for obedience doesn't get too pushy.

They get very dejected when they seem to fail at something, or are criticized beyond a certain point. Still, they never stay down for long, since they cannot pass up an opportunity or a challenge once their strategy is set.

They can seem cold, and don't tend to express weakness. They are very strong, tough, even heroic, and will do as they please. They are natural leaders, knowing precisely when to make their move to achieve victory.

They are capable of great foresight, and they usually know what's happening in the moment. They can keep secrets, and when they get their restlessness under leash, they can focus their power in short bursts while throwing off hassles that would discourage other signs.

The Tiger is said to be most compatible with Dragon, Horse, and Dog. They are somewhat neutral for those born the year of the Rat, Rabbit, Tiger, and Pig. Tigers are least compatible with Ox, Rooster, Snake, and Monkey. It is believed that depending on the strength of compatibility, that will also hold true for those born in those years.

We are told that this year will be fairly successful for people born the years of the Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Goat, Dog, and Boar. Signs that need to show caution are Rat, Ox, Monkey, and Rooster. Hares (or Cats) and Goats need to re-think some things and adapt, while Snakes need to rest and depersonalize when they can.

Tomorrow we'll continue to examine more about the qualities of the coming year, and what we can expect from this sign indicating major upheavals and instability, as well as dynamic and lucky possibilities for those who are both bold and circumspect!

THE YEAR OF THE METAL TIGER

These years feature upheavals, mass discontent, and giant clashes of philosophies, if not outright violence escalating into wars. It is also a year to toughen up, work hard to achieve wealth, focus on loved ones, and express your love more through actions than words.

These years bring major political changes and realignments, with powerful new political faces making their play on the larger stage. Action and change are the keywords for the coming year!

Instability is the quality of Tiger, while toughness is the quality of Metal. This is a year to build despite the volatility of the changing conditions on personal and global levels. This year will bring success for those who have flashes of insight followed by quick, bold action.

So regardless of your sign, keep steady throughout these radical changing conditions, and you'll find safety (or at least a sense of relief or calm) by the Year of the Metal Hare, beginning February 2, 2011.

1950, the last time we experienced the Year of the Metal Tiger, was filled with evidence of the qualities of this sign. It was the year filled with wars and violence, as well as escalating tensions around the world. Among the events of the 1950 Metal Tiger year, the USSR announced they had an atomic bomb, Truman announced our Hydrogen bomb program, Chiang Kai-shek asked the US for weapons, and Indonesian troops invaded the Moluccas.

There were two major conflicts in Asia that started that year. Tiger Ho Chi Minh attacked Cambodia, the US sent military advisers to South Vietnam, the French and Vietnamese were fighting against the Viet Minh, and President Truman gave military aid to Vietnam, thus escalating what would in time become the Vietnam War. This was no doubt in large part due to John F Dulles becoming a senior State Department advisor that year.

The second BIG war to begin that year was Korea. N. Korea invaded S. Korea, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Stalin he would intervene, and China entered the Korean conflict. There were mass executions in S. Korea, Truman threatened China with atom bomb, the UN rejected membership of China's People Republic while beginning a counter offensive in Korea, and China refused a cease fire in Korea, even while invading Tibet forcing HH Dalai Lama and thousands of refugees to flee Tibet.

More global instability saw President Truman ordering the army to seize control of the railroads to avert a strike, Puerto Rican nationalists trying to kill President Truman at Blair House, monasteries shut down in Hungary, massive arrests of communists in France, Belgium dismissing all communist civil servants, and the Western allies rearmed West Germany.

Some firsts: the first 1st jet-plane battle ever, in Korean War; Tiger Dylan Thomas arrived in NYC for his 1st US poetry reading tour; "Your Show of Shows" premiered on NBC with Tiger Mel Brooks as one of the writers; the first transatlantic jet passenger trip; first X-ray moving picture process demonstrated; first broadcast by Radio Free Europe; The U.S. FCC issued the first license to broadcast television in color; the first telephone Answering Machine created by Bell Labs; and many forums and sports were integrated for the first time.

Other important developments included Egyptian King Farouk demanding the departure of all British troops, South Africa passed the Group Areas Act segregating the races, and Israel passed the Law of Return guaranteeing all Jews the right to live in Israel. In the US, the Supreme Court undermined the legal foundations of segregation, and also ruled that a "clear & present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest.

1950 saw the UN headquarters open in Manhattan NY, as well as the first telecast of an atomic explosion as the US began 126 nuclear tests in Nevada. An earthquake in India killed 20-30,000, credit cards were introduced in the US, mass production of computers began, and the first organ transplant took place.

If you were wondering if the Year of the Tiger might be good for Tigers, here's an amazing example. Tiger Babe Didrikson-Zaharias in that year won SEVEN major LPGA championships, including the US Women's Open Golf Championship, the 144-hole Golf Weathervane, the Western Women's Golf Open, the All-American Golf Open, the World Golf Championship, the Ponte Vedra Beach Women's Golf Open, and the Tampa Women's Golf Open!

Powerful, dynamic, volatile, ever-changing, this year will activate what we stabilized last year thanks to the Earth Ox. Taking the long view, our perseverance in the year of the Fire Dog (2006), bold risk taking in the year of the Fire Boar (2007), and planning and saving for the long term in the Earth Rat (2008) that's been stabilized will be challenged, but could also turn into major new initiatives over the coming year.

http://www.aquariuspapers.com/astrology/2010/02/2010---year-of-the-metal-tiger-pt-2.html

[Firestarter]

There's my baby!

[Nichi]

Russia, China pledge to save the tiger

November 23, 2010 
By Alissa de Carbonnel

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday agreed with other Asian nations to try to double the world's wild tiger population by 2022 and save it from extinction.

Just 3,200 tigers now live in the wild, down from 100,000 a century ago, and those that remain face a losing battle with poachers who supply traders in India and China with tiger parts for traditional medicines and purported aphrodisiacs.

Putin, whose country is one of 13 that are home to the world's last wild tigers, hosted a "tiger summit" with Wen and representatives from other Asian countries, the highest level meeting ever held to try to save a single species.

"It is very important to save this wonderful, imperial creature -- the tiger -- for future generations," Putin said, adding its situation worldwide was approaching "catastrophe."

His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a programme to double the number of free-roaming tigers by 2022 was approved on Tuesday.

Initially, $350 million will be spent over the next five years, according to coordinators the World Bank and conservation organization WWF.

But implementation will be key and without tough measures to halt poaching and deforestation by the 13 nations, tigers could cease to exist in the wild by that time.

"Here is a species that is literally on the brink of extinction," said WWF's director general Jim Leape.

"If we cannot succeed now, if current trends continue, by 2022 we will have only scattered remnants of the populations left," he added.

Putin, who was given a tiger cub for his 56th birthday, has tried to court Russia's growing environmental movement by throwing his weight behind efforts to save the tiger, that roams across the vast forests of Russia's Far East.

An ex-KGB spy who sports a macho image, Putin referred to Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi's quote: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

TIGER TRADE

But conservation groups say governments and activists have failed to stop the poachers.

"The tiger population around the world has been dwindling away and the tiger conservation community has been putting in a lot of effort, but we're not succeeding," said John Robinson, chief conservation officer of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

"If nothing changes radically we are going to see a lot of tiger populations blinking out," he told Reuters.

Wild tiger numbers have tumbled 97 percent in the past decade and up to four of the nine tiger subspecies have vanished.

Celebrities such as U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio has committed to the campaign, donating $1 million on Tuesday.

A marker of the summit's success will be the launch of a consortium to fight wildlife smuggling, said John Sellar, chief enforcement officer for the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"The key thing is enforcement," he told Reuters. "The situation is now so serious that if we don't get enforcement very soon then the money that we're spending in other areas, one could almost say, is flushing down the toilet."

India is at the center of the trade with the most seizures of tiger parts, followed by China, where nearly every inch of the tiger fetches a high price, with pelts sold for as much as $35,000, according to black market database Havoscope.

"If someone breaks into your house at night and steals your DVD player, the insurance company is going to pay for you to go and get another. When the final tiger or leopard is gone -- that's it," said Sellar.

"If we can't do it for the tiger, then I think we have to ask, are we going to be able to do it for anything else?"
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=russia%2C-china-pledge-to-save-tiger

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Ke-ke wan]

Awwww, love it!

[Michael]

One problem, is that every tiger killed reduces the number left, and thus increases the price for tigers and tiger parts. It is the Chinese who pay these prices, and tiger parts are still openly available in China. It is hard to imagine the Chinese changing their ways just because their Premier says so (and who is about to be replaced next year).

[Builder]

A few years ago we talked here, at this forum, about 5,000 remaining tigers and there were programmes, pledges and initiatives taken.
Now we talk about 3,200 tigers left and there are programmes, pledges and initiatives introduced.
All we, humans, do is generating hope and a few positive emotions on which to sleep and daydream to realise in a few years that these have been merely hopes and emotions and that there again are less tigers left than before.
The new pledge to restore the tiger poulation back to 6,000 is basically about going back in time for only a few years.

Does anybody really believe that this trend of exterminating nature and daydreaming on hope could be reversed?

Wild tigers could be extinct by 2022, conference told

Moscow- The world's tigers are in danger of extinction by 2022, warned world leaders as they gathered in St Petersburg Sunday for a special conference on the animal with hopes of hammering out a rescue package for the endangered predator.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354533,2022-conference-summary.html

Kicking off the four-day conference, the animal protection group World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) warned that the planet's last free- roaming tigers faced extinction by the year 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger after this year.

WWF general director James Leape said that only around 3,200 tigers are still living wild in 13 countries.

Attendees, at the personal invitation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, hope to agree a plan to almost double the animal's global population to 6,000 by 2020. To do so, they will have to find some way to alleviate the problems of poaching and smuggling.

By WWF accounts, the St Petersburg meeting is the first one in which government leaders will be debating the fate of a single animal species. Participants include Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Tigers are coveted as trophies by hunters and for making questionable medications in some countries, Leape noted.

What is needed is to persuade those people who inhabit regions together with tigers to join the cause of protecting the animals, he said.

The St Petersburg conference is due to discuss proposals for protecting the world's largest predatory cats, with the aim of doubling the tigers' worldwide numbers.

Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev mooted the idea of required certificates for privately owned tiger pelts. He said Russia is also planning restrictions on agriculture and use of forests in areas where tigers make their homes.

On the agenda for Tuesday is a vote proposing a programme of at least 350 million dollars to rescue the world's tigers. Russia would commit 45 million of that, said Trutnev.

Russia's tiger population numbered 1,000 in the 19th century before plummeting to about 50 by the 1940s. Special protections during the Soviet era boosted that figure back up to about 450.

[Nichi]

Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness

Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends

into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out

to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing, as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality of what will be?
I don’t say
it’s easy, but
what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?
So let us go on

though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.


mary oliver

A few years ago we talked here, at this forum, about 5,000 remaining tigers and there were programmes, pledges and initiatives taken.
Now we talk about 3,200 tigers left and there are programmes, pledges and initiatives introduced.
All we, humans, do is generating hope and a few positive emotions on which to sleep and daydream to realise in a few years that these have been merely hopes and emotions and that there again are less tigers left than before.
The new pledge to restore the tiger poulation back to 6,000 is basically about going back in time for only a few years.

Does anybody really believe that this trend of exterminating nature and daydreaming on hope could be reversed?

[Builder]

One should add India to the list of tiger-hunters/protectors.

Yes, if tiger goes, children will never learn about them as we do now and books, stories and movies about them would become irrelevant for learning purposes.

Yes, there is some fascination about dinosaurs in our days, but it is a curiosity and computer imaging rather than anything we can have real experience about.

It's a mind game lacking a physical dimension. But then...the people live increasingly in a virtual reality lacking a physical dimension.

So yes, the talk about tigers could live on in cyberspace and evolve in quite unexpected directions. Like conspiracy theories, wishful thinking, etc. do nowadays.

[Builder]

It's fun while it lasts. 

Chasing a chicken:

[Nichi]

5 on 1 - there's a chicken who didn't stand a chance!

[Builder]

5 on 1 - there's a chicken who didn't stand a chance!

Hmm, something tells me the outcome would probably be same the other way around...