Save the Tiger, also the Asiatic lion !

Tigers are facing major population losses & extinction. Tigers are killed for sport, skins & body parts. The 1950s saw extinction of the Caspian tiger. The Bali and Java tiger are also extinct. The last Bali tiger was killed in 1937; the last Javan tiger was seen in 1972. India today has the largest number of tigers, with between 3,600 to 4,000. The South China tiger (20-30 are remaining), is nearly extinct in the wild.

Reasons for the Endangered Status

The Bengal tiger is endangered because it is poached for its body parts to cater to an illegal market. Another reason is habitat loss due to depletion of forest cover interference of humans and encrochment of forest land by people causing fragmentation. At the turn of the century, there were almost reportedly 40,000 tigers in India, but now only around 4,000 remain in the wild.

Why Save Tigers?

Tiger is symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem. By conserving and saving tigers the entire wilderness ecosystem is conserved. In nature, barring human beings and their domesticates, rest of the ecosystem is wild. Hence conserving wilderness is important and crucial to maintain the life support system. So saving tiger amounts to saving the ecosystem which is crucial for man's own survival.

Extinction stalks the Asiatic lion, a regal subspecies now crowded into a single sanctuary in India's Gir Forest.
Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they,ve been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe, and so did people, who,as they multiplied and organized,put pressure on competitors at the top of the food chain. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that split from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former domain.

India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile (1,450-square-kilometer) sanctuary. It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest,and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will slink through the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid,lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Gir's lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. It's odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold,too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions prowl the periphery of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. ...for..more....

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