The tiger entered India from Burma and gradually established haunts in Assam, Bengal, the foot-hills of the Himalayas, and the central and southern India. These gorgeous majestic felines are found in dense forest, valleys, caves, forested hills, and the banks of rivers and streams. In the Himalayas, tigers are found up to an altitude of 2400 to 2700 meters. Amazing!
This big cat is one of the biggest and most fearsome predators in the world. The tiger resembles a cat in every respect except size. It has the same sleek body, heavily padded paws, stiff white whiskers and a rough tongue .It has the same sharp sense of sight, smell and hearing. It moves with the same stealthy tread, grace and cunning. Like the cat it loves to be alone, hunts at night and has grace that is unbeatable.
The recent ads on TV definitely will have you worried if you have your heart and mind in the right place. The tiger is a rapidly depleting population in our sanctuaries, on the verge of extinction.
We as a country have the distinction of harboring almost half of the world’s tiger population, but I wonder for how long we will retain this status. WWF claims that there are approx 1,411 big cats remaining alive that need to be protected on a crisis basis.
Facts suggest that action taken on the ground remains insufficient and marred by bureaucratic procrastination. We need to conserve our tiger’s guys.
If you are concerned about Tigers and wonder what u can do to help, go to http://www.saveourtigers.com/
8 comments:
Yessss, keep the tiger burning bright!!!
Poaching and loss of habitat have caused tiger numbers to plunge from around 40,000 at the turn of the 20th century in India, a country with patchy environmental awareness and uneven local governance needed for an effective crackdown on poachers.Good effort Mee!
Poaching continues to be a major problem for tigers not just in India but in every remaining habitat. The poaching is fueled by the black market in tiger parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicines. While China has currently banned any selling of tiger parts, the ban has not stopped the underground trade. In a 2008 poll of Chinese residents in seven major cities, 43 percent admitted that they had consumed products that they thought contained tiger parts.
Last week I was in Indonesia and friends there tell me Indonesia has a new plan to save the critically endangered Sumatran tiger there. They plan to sell captive-born tigers as pets:) The proposed price is 100,000 US dollars for a pair of Sumatran tigers with the money going to conservation efforts, though it was unclear who would manage these funds. Ain't it cool?:)
In days gone by tigers used to be hunted for sport. In today's day they are killed for sale of their body parts or because humans think they are a threat to their existence. A pity!
The tigers habitat is fast disappearing every day forcing them into more populated areas. Directly putting them in clash with humans who see them as danger! Heck the Govt and corrupt reality folks are directly to be blamed for this extinction! STOP killing our tigers!
Under some pretext or another, part of mankind has always been in conflict with the tiger. The tigers been blamed for all kinds of atrocities that the beasts have made them endure. To some extent it is true but what they don't realize is that unless it is forced to, the tiger would prefer to never leave it's beloved jungle.
A lot of spite against the tiger is born in the hearts of villagers when areas, which they roamed freely in with their cattle, is taken away from them
The planning and governing bodies of the wildlife department and other related organisations have realised the mistake made by them in the past and are now thankfully rectifying this. The villages now neighboring wildlife reserves are not being treated as enemies of the animals and the forest but are instead being involved in their protection and caring.
The villagers earlier were left helpless when cutting of wood in their areas was banned by the authorities once it was declared a national park or a sanctuary. The jungle used to provide them with wood, which used to be their only source of heat in the winters and fuel for cooking. It also provided them with fire that was at times their only means of protection from the animals around. This plight of the villagers, which created so much hatred in them towards the animals, has been finally understood and alternative provisions of fuel are being made available to them.
Hopeful we will see the revival of this great cat and restore balance to our forests
The biggest threat to tigers in India is depletion of their chief prey like deer, wild pigs and wild cattle by local people. As a result although about 300,000 square kilometers of tiger habitat still remains, much of it is empty of tigers because there is not enough food for them to survive and breed successfully.
I think the best way is to create more opportunities in the real world for trained conservationists and conservation scientists. At present, both in the Government and the non-governmental sectors, the conservation field filled with people who are professionally untrained and are as a result offering and implementing "seat of the pants" solutions, many of which don't work. Secondly, conservationists must learn to independently function as small NGO groups without looking for government doles and jobs.
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