Rare Earth
Tigers e more than 40 reserves established
by Project Tiger, which are managed by
specially trained staff, have helped to stabilise numbers. At the
last count in 2014, India was home to about 2,226 Bengal tigers,
up a third since 2011.
Nevertheless, areas where tigers can roam freely continue
to shrink. Even within reserves, unplanned developments
and the building of new roads, railways and canals further
carve up these solitary hunters’ habitats, leaving fragments
too small for them to feed and breed healthily. Meanwhile, the
Sundarbans reserve – a vast mangrove
forest between Bangladesh and India – is
threatened by rising sea levels caused
by climate change. And as tigers’ space
diminishes, so do stocks of their natural
prey – deer, antelope, wild boar and bison.
All this brings the cats into closer contact
with humans, leaving them vulnerable to
retaliation by locals angry over attacks on
livestock or, occasionally, people.
If we want to avoid such horror
headlines, continuing to set up and
maintain ‘wildlife corridors’ is vital. ese
are narrow strips of land that link different
reserves and allow tigers to spread out,
hunt, avoid interbreeding and establish
territories safely, without encountering
humans. For instance, the reforested
Khata corridor lets tigers roam freely
between Nepal’s Bardia National Park and
India’s Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.
A recent WWF report also warned that
conservationists and infrastructure
planners will need to collaborate more
closely if the good work done so far is not
to be undone by more development.
But by far the biggest threat stalking
these big cats is poaching. From itsleathery nose to the end of its furry tail, every centimetre
of a tiger is a coveted item that fetches premium prices on
the black market. Its bones are used to make a traditional
medicine said to impart the tiger’s strength to the drinker;
its beautiful skin is used to treat mental illnesses; even its
whiskers are said to cure toothache.
Poaching has skyrocketed since the 1990s. In China, supplies
of the native tiger – victim of an extermination programme
pushed by former leader Mao Zedong – began running out
just as demand for tiger parts from a burgeoning middle class
grew. Pharmacists and dealers looked to India for
a new source, which, despite the 1993 international
ban on poaching and trafficking, shows no signs of
drying up. In November 2016, the Indian environment
minister reported that poachers took 29 tigers last
year – up from the previous year.
India has many dedicated park rangers and strict
anti-poaching laws, but conviction rates are not
high. Better training for rangers and a more efficient
criminal justice system would help, says Basker, who
heads the WPSI’s legal programme. But the real solution –
reducing demand for tiger products in China and Southeast
Asia – requires improved international cooperation.International icons
In 2010, the last Chinese Year of the Tiger, India, China and 11
other tiger range nations agreed to try to double the number
of tigers around the world by the next Year of the Tiger in
2022: the so-called Tx2 initiative. It’s an achievable goal and its
importance stretches beyond just saving these big cats.
Wild tigers sit at the top of the food chain. Save one, and you
save all the other parts of the 150-1,000km^2 ecosystem upon
which it rests. Protecting tigers means protecting fresh water
supplies that benefit millions; protecting vegetation that keeps
soils fertile and stores carbon, so mitigating against climate
change. It also means protecting a booming tiger tourism
industry that provides valuable jobs in remote rural areas.
Put simply: for millions across Asia, saving a tiger could also
mean saving themselves. And the thing to realise, says Basker,
is that it can be done. Give tigers the right conditions and they
will thrive: ‘As long as their habitat is preserved and they’re
protected from poachers, there’s hope for tigers,’ he says.Shave a tiger and it still has
stripes as they go down to its skin.
No two have the same pattern.
Tigers are those rare cats who
enjoy a dip and can swim happily
for 20-30km a day. ey almost
always submerge backwards, says
Avinash Basker of the Wildlife
Protection Society of India –
probably because they don’t like
getting water in their eyes.
Even tiger poo is used in
traditional Chinese medicine,
as a treatment for boils and piles.
Tigers like water and can
swim several kilometres
in pursuit of a mate or
prey. But those that
live in the Sundarbans
mangrove forest (below
right) have to co-exist
with fishermenDid you
know?
Words: Nick Funnell. Photographs: Alamy, iStock, Nature Picture Library, Shutterstock