| THE STATE OF THE TIGER | |
|
|
|
|
Introduction
There have been hundreds of statements made about the future of the tiger over the last few years in India and around the world. Millions of dollars have been spent on conferences, expert meetings and the bureaucracies that support them. Presidents, Prime Ministers and politicians in many parts of the world have pledged support for tiger conservation and called for a reversal in the decline of tiger populations. The public has been moved. When a fifteen year old girl from the UK collected one signature for every living wild tiger and contacted the Environmental Investigation Agency in 1997, it started a run of emotion and sincere concern. When her letter was posted on the Internet it prompted children all over the world to go out and collect signatures. In a separate initiative in just six weeks in the Indian State of Kerala, children had amassed 250,000 signatures asking Prime Minister Gujral to save the tiger. This is the 25th anniversary of Project Tiger, the Indian government's initiative to help save the tiger. Its Director has recently stated that "the figure of one tiger death every day may even be an underestimate." The tigers' home, the forests of India, are in an appalling state compared to 25 years ago and the industrial might of the world has hit India with a vengeance. Trade in tiger parts still continues illegally for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and as the Chinese Year of the Tiger ends there is a real concern that wild tigers may not survive to see the next. The first decade of the new millennium will be the true indicator of whether world leaders consider conserving the tiger a real priority, not just a popularist talking point. |
|
| next... | |
|
|
|
 Tigers Home |
|
