The Tiger is vanishing! Is any one listening?" Tigers could face extinction within the next decade unless our government takes effective measures to protect them.
Apart from the Taj Mahal, it is hard to think of a more powerful national symbol than the Royal Bengal tiger! Wildlife activists say,with tigers becoming increasingly scarce, the potential damage to Indian tourism is incalculable.
A century ago there were around 100,000 tigers across Asia. Today, there are fewer than 5,000 in the world & half of them live in Indian forests.
The biggest threats come from poaching & illegal trade of tiger skins. Indian tiger skins are openly bought and sold on the streets of China. Tiger skins & bones used in traditional medicines are being smuggled into China through Nepal. Habitat destruction, decline of prey due to loss of habitat,deliberate poisoning by farmers are also some of the greatest perils facing the big cat & the lack of political will at the highest level to stem them out.
The government,park authorities & even the tourism providers themselves have almost completely failed to recognise tourism as an important tool in conserving tigers. The irony of the situation is scientists & tiger conservationists in the private sphere are ignored & excluded from the jungles & are vindictively persecuted for exposing the truth!
WWF officials have stated - with proper measures,tigers could thrive & increase their numbers by thousands & they believed the species can survive.
In many ways the tiger stands at a crossroads between extinction & survival & which path it takes is totally dependent on us! Tigers are indicators of eco-system health, they are indicators of forest health. Saving the tiger is a test. If we pass, we get to keep the planet Earth
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