08 February 2012
Tiger poaching dropped nearly 60 percent in 2011 as compared to the previous year, though it continues to pose a major threat to the survival of the big cat in the country, a leading NGO said.
According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 13 tigers were hunted last year as compared to 30 in 2010 - a decline of 57 percent. The bodies of poached tigers, seized bones and skins were computed to arrive at the figures. Click on date for more details
About Tigers
Once tigers roamed freely from eastern Russia to the Black Sea. Even a Century ago their numbers were estimated at 100,000 worldwide, today that number has fallen to around 3,000. The 6 remaining tiger subspecies are confined to small pockets, isolated from other populations and in danger of becoming inbred. The actual land space occupied by today's wild tigers is perhaps only about 7% of the area they once covered.
The 14 countries that still have wild tigers are all Asian: India (with the most), Bangladesh, Bhutan Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Tigers can live in varied habitats from cold alpine forests to moist evergreen forests; from hot scrub jungle to mangrove forests.
Evidence from Bhutan from the Jigme Dorji National Park shows that tigers have expanded their range to higher altitudes and their territories now overlap with Snow leopards. This may reflect poaching pressures and climate change.
The largest of all cats, the tiger is one of the most fearsome predators in the world. It can weigh up to 450 kg (1,000 lb) and measure around ten feet (three metres) from nose to the tip of the tail. Siberians are the biggest subspecies and can weigh 700+ lbs and measure in at over 10 ft in length.
TIGERS IN CRISIS
Tigers are prolific breeders and can raise up to four cubs every two and half years but to survive and thrive they need undisturbed forests, plenty of prey animals and protection from poaching in order to survive.
It is estimated that tiger numbers have plummeted 97% over the last century, the Javan, Bali, and Caspian tiger subspecies are now extinct. During the same period the human population has increased from 1.7 billion to 6.87 billion today.
Humans are responsible for the drop in tiger numbers through habitat loss and poaching, scarcity of prey, and retributive killing.
Poaching:
Killing tigers to make so-called "tiger medicines" like tiger bone wine, tiger plasters and aphrodisiacs, is now the biggest threat. None of these cures has any proven medicinal value whatsoever.
A dead tiger, with skin and bones and organs intact, can fetch well over US$25,000. The money would be spread through the middlemen of the supply chain, with the poacher probably getting the least. With international crime syndicates now involved in the highly profitable wildlife trade, tigers are freely poached from preserves where they are supposed to be protected. Some tiger reserves such as Sariska and Panna have been completely drained of tigers by poachers.
It is estimated that perhaps one tiger a day is being killed in India alone – if so the tiger could be virtually extinct within a few years.
However Tigers also have economic value in their own right .GTP’s project Travel Operators for Tigers (Toft) recently gave two symbolic 'Lifetime Achievement' awards to two wild tigers in India. Machali a tigress in Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan, and B2 in Bandhavgarh National Park in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Toft calculated that Machali has generated nearly US$100 million in around 10 years. Machali has not only been stared at by thousands of tourists who hire vehicles to get to Ranthambhore, stay and eat at hotels in the area and hire guides and buy local souvenirs; she has also been photographed and filmed – and so have her 11 cubs down the years.
As for B2, he has sired over 35 tigers, 90 per cent of which lived to adulthood. Toft calculated that B2 had earned US$30m over 7 years.
Habitat Loss:
No less fatal than poaching, to the long-term future of the tiger, is the threat to its habitat from badly-managed development projects and poor farming practice. Habitat loss includes clearing of forests for timber, palm oil plantations, agriculture, livestock grazing, human settlements, as well as habitat fragmentation by roads and rapid development.
While much of Asia is struggling to cope with the exploding human population, it is widely accepted that unbridled development will only result in decreasing living conditions and the destruction of Asia's precious, but fast-shrinking, wilderness.
The 14 countries that still have wild tigers are all Asian: India (with the most), Bangladesh, Bhutan Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Tigers can live in varied habitats from cold alpine forests to moist evergreen forests; from hot scrub jungle to mangrove forests.
Evidence from Bhutan from the Jigme Dorji National Park shows that tigers have expanded their range to higher altitudes and their territories now overlap with Snow leopards. This may reflect poaching pressures and climate change.
The largest of all cats, the tiger is one of the most fearsome predators in the world. It can weigh up to 450 kg (1,000 lb) and measure around ten feet (three metres) from nose to the tip of the tail. Siberians are the biggest subspecies and can weigh 700+ lbs and measure in at over 10 ft in length.
TIGERS IN CRISIS
Tigers are prolific breeders and can raise up to four cubs every two and half years but to survive and thrive they need undisturbed forests, plenty of prey animals and protection from poaching in order to survive.
It is estimated that tiger numbers have plummeted 97% over the last century, the Javan, Bali, and Caspian tiger subspecies are now extinct. During the same period the human population has increased from 1.7 billion to 6.87 billion today.
Humans are responsible for the drop in tiger numbers through habitat loss and poaching, scarcity of prey, and retributive killing.
Poaching:
Killing tigers to make so-called "tiger medicines" like tiger bone wine, tiger plasters and aphrodisiacs, is now the biggest threat. None of these cures has any proven medicinal value whatsoever.
A dead tiger, with skin and bones and organs intact, can fetch well over US$25,000. The money would be spread through the middlemen of the supply chain, with the poacher probably getting the least. With international crime syndicates now involved in the highly profitable wildlife trade, tigers are freely poached from preserves where they are supposed to be protected. Some tiger reserves such as Sariska and Panna have been completely drained of tigers by poachers.
It is estimated that perhaps one tiger a day is being killed in India alone – if so the tiger could be virtually extinct within a few years.
However Tigers also have economic value in their own right .GTP’s project Travel Operators for Tigers (Toft) recently gave two symbolic 'Lifetime Achievement' awards to two wild tigers in India. Machali a tigress in Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan, and B2 in Bandhavgarh National Park in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Toft calculated that Machali has generated nearly US$100 million in around 10 years. Machali has not only been stared at by thousands of tourists who hire vehicles to get to Ranthambhore, stay and eat at hotels in the area and hire guides and buy local souvenirs; she has also been photographed and filmed – and so have her 11 cubs down the years.
As for B2, he has sired over 35 tigers, 90 per cent of which lived to adulthood. Toft calculated that B2 had earned US$30m over 7 years.
Habitat Loss:
No less fatal than poaching, to the long-term future of the tiger, is the threat to its habitat from badly-managed development projects and poor farming practice. Habitat loss includes clearing of forests for timber, palm oil plantations, agriculture, livestock grazing, human settlements, as well as habitat fragmentation by roads and rapid development.
While much of Asia is struggling to cope with the exploding human population, it is widely accepted that unbridled development will only result in decreasing living conditions and the destruction of Asia's precious, but fast-shrinking, wilderness.
