What are our Successes?: The Tiger Project

The Tiger Project:

     

         There are many types of tigers such as the Siberian tiger, Bengal tiger, Indochinese tiger, Amoy tiger, and the Sumatran tiger. There are less than 5,000 tigers left in the wild. The reasons for this decline are habitat loss, hunting, the use of tiger traps and poaching. 

  

         A number of steps have been taken to help preserve tiger populations.  The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) preserves wildlife and habitats. Today WCS is at work in 53 nations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America, protecting wild landscapes that are home to a vast variety of species from butterflies to tigers.

  

         In 2006, Panthera, a private foundation, and WCS launched Tigers Forever, an action plan to make sure that tigers remain in the wild forever. This unusual program is an ambitious plan to increase tiger numbers at WCS sites across Asia by 50 percent in the next 10 years. This program will use rigorous monitoring plans to see if they are achieving their goals, specific site interventions, and overall management.  Currently the tiger population is increasing under this program in India in the Nagarahole National Park and in Far East Russia. They are working with governments and other organizations which are committed to tiger preservation.  They are working in India, Thailand, Russia and China where they feel the greatest potential exists to save the tigers. Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, the director of the WCS big cat project, states, “We’re putting our reputations on the line and holding ourselves accountable that we can grow tiger numbers.  At the same time, we have the knowledge, expertise, and track record to accomplish this goal.”

  

         It is because of people like WCS director Alan Rabinowitz and Panthera founder Thomas Kaplan that these large cats have a chance of survival in their natural environments and not just in zoos.

 

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Sources:

 

"Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." Conserving the Nature of America. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/esact.html>.

 

Gingrich, Newt, and Terry L. Maple. A Contract with the Earth.  Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2007. Accessed 4 February 2008.

 

“Saving Wildlife”. Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http://www.wcs.org>.

 

"Tigers Forever. Saving Wildlife”. Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed 4 February 2008.

<http://www.wcs.org/international/Asia/tigersforever> 

 

“Tigers Get A Business Plan”. Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http://www.wcs.org/353624/30758743>

 

"Tiger." Indonesian Animal Information. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http:// www.indonesianfauna.com/tiger.php>

 

"WCS  in New York. Saving Wildlife”. Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http://www.wcs.org/sw-wcs_in_new_york>.

 

Photograph:

Singer, Ron–USFWS. “Bengal Tiger”. We for animals. Accessed 4 February 2008. <http://www.weforanimals.com/free-pictures/wild-animals/tigers/1/tiger-3.htm>
Used under the Creative Commons License.

<http://www.weforanimals.com/free-pictures/wild-animals/tigers/tiger-1.htm>