Founders Note
Hermis Haridas & Nisha Purushothaman
July 29 is celebrated as the International Tiger Day to help protect the habitats of the tiger around the world and to raise awareness and support about tiger conservation issues.
Created in 2010, this is one of the events on the wildlife calender that is noticed around the globe.
Why did we get here- why a day for the tiger?
Tiger numbers fell dramatically last century from about 100,000 tigers in the 1900s to just 1400 in 2008 – a fall of 98.5%.
Why did we get here – mainly three reasons
– First is the destruction of habitat in a part of the world where the human population has increased dramatically and is encroaching into natural areas and replacing tiger forest with farmland and forestry.
– Second is the poaching of prey – tiger density depends on a good prey base and as the density of the prey falls, through poaching, so tigers need larger and larger areas.
– Third is the continued illegal poaching of tigers. Tigers are killed and almost every part of their body including bones, eyes, whiskers and teeth are used to treat ailments and disease.
Sustained conservation efforts have seen the tiger population improve, but still only a shadow of their former glory days. More money has been spent on tiger conservation than any other single species, still it inhabits only 7% of its former range.
India which is home to around 70% of the world’s surviving tigers is crucial for tiger conservation efforts. Government of India had launched the Project Tiger as early as 1973 to aid in tiger conservation.
But in conservation, often we see that for better results, awareness building, and regulations are necessary in other regions as well. For example, China has shown a huge spike in demand for tiger body parts for traditional cures. This demand can be quickly controlled by support from the Chinese government and by social pressure to have this use of animal parts considered socially unacceptable. Kill the demand and the poaching invariably stops.
Let us take the pledge for a greener future!
Hermis Haridas & Nisha Purushothaman
Founders – PT Explorers