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Preparing tiger samples for analysis

Dr. Kaufman is now in Chitwan, working with Dr. Amir Sadaula at the National Trust of Nature Conservation's Biodiversity Conservation Center lab where most of VIEW's work is ongoing.  We have identified samples in our storage archive that are available for analysis and are preparing them for shipment to Cornell and for local testing.

NTNC and Dr. Sadaula recently built a brand new molecular genetics lab where he will be doing some of the testing right here.  It is a very exciting advancement! 

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  • Ajit Karna
    Ajit KarnaBacker
    Nice, Dr Kaufman! I am very glad to hear the project progress and that NTNC has a genetics lab now. By the way, what archived samples are there? I thought Nepal does not allow to ship its samples of wild flora and fauna outside of Nepal, unless that is cDNA.
    Mar 12, 2017
  • Gretchen E. Kaufman
    Gretchen E. KaufmanResearcher
    Tiger samples are covered by CITES. We will only be bringing samples to Cornell under a CITES permit obtained both from the US and from Nepal authorities.
    Mar 17, 2017
  • Gretchen E. Kaufman
    Gretchen E. KaufmanResearcher
    For those of you that don't know what CITES is. This is a treaty between countries designed to regulate trade in endangered species - the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species. To legally move samples of an endangered species covered by the CITES treaty, permission must be granted by both the exporting and importing country authorities. This is a complicated process designed to restrict trade and exploitation. See more at https://www.cites.org/
    Mar 17, 2017

About This Project

Veterinary Initiative for Endangered Wildlife

Through our wildlife health work in Nepal, we have seen sick tigers that show symptoms similar to canine distemper virus, a common dog disease. We have already demonstrated that dogs living around Chitwan National Park, the home of most of Nepal's tigers, have this disease. We want to test healthy and sick tigers in Nepal for common dog and cat diseases, to see if these diseases might be a significant threat to their recovery and long term survival.

Blast off!

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