Purpose: The purpose of this committee is to communicate and develop concepts tailored to the needs of the international member. It shall serve as a platform to voice international issues and, in turn provide information and resources to the general TIBCS membership on matters of an international and country-specific nature.

Function: The International Committee shall monitor and inform the membership of any changes relating to regulations concerning country-specific registration, ownership and movement of Bengal cats worldwide. Further, it shall develop a concept geared at a more internationally-oriented Cattery of Distinction Program for its membership. Ideally, the Committee should be represented by all TIBCS member countries so that future members may also benefit from the resources of a truly international organization. The Committee shall release a summary of its activities on a quarterly basis in the TIBCS Bulletin and publish detailed articles pertaining to the projects currently being worked on by the Committee on a regular basis.

Right now, we are in the process of collecting information about all country-specific matters related to the Bengal cat in particular, breeding specifics, import & export regualtions, such as vaccine protocols, import/export authorities, necessary forms, registries, CITES and the EG, addresses, links,etc. For this purpose, I have deposited a "country fact sheet" in each country folder of the files section. This is just to help you get an idea of what type of information we are looking for. Now, this is just a suggestion and if you have any ideas on things we may add, please let us know and we can add it to the list. The aim is to compile information from all countries in which TIBCS members are located and make this information available to the general membership - either printed in the Bulletin, on the TIBCS member website or both.

I propose that you send your information via mail to our list - please label it accordingly, e.g. "Re: Netherlands - CITES procedures", or "France - Vaccination Protocols", etc. That way other members get the information straight away and can verify it if necessary (and it aid in organizing...). I will then update all new information to the fact sheets once a week. If you feel that a piece of information may not be fully accurate, please say so and we can research the matter in more depth. We really need correct information.

I have also added a "Bengals in the Press" Folder - one in the files section and one in the links section. Here you can also deposit links, scans, or documents of Bengal-related articles from your country. There are also country-specific folders in the links section - please feel free to upload any you feel may be of importance.

And of course, if you have suggestions concerning anything else you would like our committee involved in, this is the place to say so

I look forward to learning from you all!

Tanya