Save Tigers

There is a campaign running all-over India now a days for Saving tigers. They say we can contribute in various ways like Roar Online, Be informed, Donate or whatever you can do for the purpose. I was wondering how will such shouting save the tigers? As a human being and as a nature lover I want to contribute to the campaign of Save Tigers, but in a way which can actually make difference.

First thing I wanted to know was if 1411 tigers are less, then how many are sufficient? What should be the number? A historical data of number of tigers was what I was searching for and found the website of National Tiger Conservation Authority from wikipedia. At the early years of 19the century, the number of tigers in India was 45,000, which was decreased to only 1827 in 1972. The latest figure is 1411.

Second question is why this is heading towards the extinction? Tigers are killed for sport, skins & body parts. The 1950s saw extinction of the Caspian tiger. The Bali and Java tiger are also extinct. The last Bali tiger was killed in 1937; the last Javan tiger was seen in 1972. India today has the largest number of tigers, with 1411. The South China tiger (20-30 are remaining), is nearly extinct in the wild.

The Bengal tiger is endangered because it is poached for its body parts to cater to an illegal market. Another reason is habitat loss due to depletion of forest cover interference of humans and encrochment of forest land by people causing fragmentation. At the turn of the century, there were almost reportedly 40,000 tigers in India, but now only around 1,411 remain in the wild.

Ok. Now another question, why the population loss of tigers and extinction is a matter of worry? Tiger is symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem. By conserving and saving tigers the entire wilderness ecosystem is conserved. In nature, barring human beings and their domesticates, rest of the ecosystem is wild. Hence conserving wilderness is important and crucial to maintain the life support system. So saving tiger amounts to saving the ecosystem which is crucial for man's own survival.

So finally what I can do? There are more than 40 tiger reserves in India, increasing number of Tiger visitors will encourage the authorities to do there job more efficiently. We can promote this campaign by any means to promote more visits to Tigers. I'm now part of Save tigers campaign, will visit Ranthambore very soon, and encourage others also for the same. I love tigers and I wish in future my grand children also be able to see Tigers in Jungle and not just in NatGeo documentaries.