$0.00 donated
0 Donors
Uprooted grass and an overwhelming musky stench left behind from a ‘spray’ – of one of the most glorious, magnetic, and powerful ‘cats’ in the wild – albeit also the most endangered, gives us hope that tigers still survive. The reason these massive cats spray, is to mark their territory. The keyword being ‘their’ and yet they seem to have a tough time surviving since we humans seem to read ‘their’ as ‘mine’. The massive paw prints, tree trunk bark scraped off as ‘intimidating’ signs for rivals and to attract potential mates – are all impressive characteristics of this majestic animal. We humans seem incapable of leaving these precious beasts alone.
What most people do not know or realize is that tigers are atop the food chain and their extinction would lead to the collapse of the ecosystem, resulting in the wiping out of humankind. These beautiful and massive creatures need large expanses of forest areas as homes, in order to sustain a population that will keep them around for years. The conflict for food and resources between humans and great beasts is not new. What has changed though is the intensity of this conflict as human population continues to grow unabated. This ceaseless increase has resulted in humans destroying the natural habitat of these creatures and hunting them for their body parts, for personal gain. The ‘vile’ humans have slowly but consistently wiped out a very large population of tigers, while fragmenting and isolating some of this animal population in varying measure.
The only hope for these handsome creatures is persistent, stringent, and time-bound methods to sustain and bring about an increase in their existing population. It is necessary to manage these diminishing ‘populations’ by connecting them through wildlife corridors. This will enable the individual tigers to move around more freely, pick their permanent areas of ‘residence’, exist without fear, and reproduce at a faster pace, thus reducing the risk of extinction. One of the greatest needs for the big cat population is land. However, land is also one of the most ‘prized’ resources, with humans laying claim to most of it. One of the biggest obstacles in getting land is convincing governments, to allocate land for conservation requirements. In addition, a lack of objectivity and robust criteria based on scientific deductions, for clear demarcation of wildlife corridors, creates further problems. Tiger conservation seems to rely heavily on the opinion of experts and obsolete ‘models of wildlife corridors, which are limited in their practical rationale and application.
It beats common sense that despite tigers being the ‘star species’ on which rests the conservation of the ecosystem, people continue to decimate their population. It is the need of the hour for everyone to understand the criticality of saving the tiger and the dire need to conserve the biodiversity of the world’s forest ecosystems. The conflict between humans and wildlife and the issue of land rights of people living inside and outside of tiger reserves must be put to rest. Without combating these issues firmly, the capability of tiger dispersal, reproduction, and their very survival continues to be at risk.
We know that conservation efforts, in human dominated areas, are herculean tasks, but for our own survival, we have no choice but to comply – Save the Big Cats Today. Join Good and Humble as a volunteer in our endeavour to save the planet.