Independent UK: A last chance to save the tiger

[marmar]

A last chance to save the tiger
As hunting and loss of habitat push the world's biggest cat to the brink of extinction, the 13 'tiger nations' are gathering in Russia determined to halt its calamitous decline

By Shaun Walker

Friday, 19 November 2010


The remains were discovered in the woods early on Tuesday, thousands of miles from Moscow, near Russia's distant eastern border with North Korea. A single bullet had proved fatal, and by evening the country's Interior Minister had been tasked with mounting a thorough investigation and severely punishing the culprits. The victim? Not a muck-raking journalist, or a local mafia boss, but a Siberian tiger, one of only about 450 left in the far east of Russia.

It was a gruesome reminder of the severity of the threat to wild tigers. This weekend, the leaders of the world's 13 "tiger nations", including Russia, China and India, are to meet. Billed as the last chance to save the wild tiger, the St Petersburg summit will be hosted by the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and will launch a programme to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.

There are now just 3,200 tigers left in the wild, compared to about 100,000 a century ago, and wildlife experts say that if serious measures are not taken, the tiger could die out within a generation. "This summit may be the last chance for the tiger," said Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, which is coordinating the programme to be presented at the summit. "Tigers are vanishing, due to illegal poaching, trafficking and loss of habitat." ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/a-last-chance-to-save-the-tiger-2138131.html

[Demoiselle]

1. Oh, that gorgeous critter. I hope they succeed. nt.

[Stuart G]

2. K and R

What can be said about the destruction of a species of animals such as this??