Tigers of India – Save the Tiger

Pencil Sketch of a Tiger

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This is a pencil sketch of a Tiger that I did for my son. I then got the idea of putting it as a byte. So, here is some information that I gathered on the status of the Indian Tiger.

TIGERS, as we all know, are wild animals that live in forests. All wild tigers live in Asia. Some of them live in the snowy forests of Siberia while others live in the humid jungles of Sumatra, and in the dry grasslands of India.

The Tiger has been given the status of the National Animal of India for a very good reason. The Tiger plays a very essential role in maintaining and conserving the Indian wildlife, which includes the other species and the forests. Tigers occupy the highest position of the food chain and a healthy tiger population is an indicator of the well being of the whole forest.

The predators, like the tiger by its virtue of being a carnivore, have a regulatory influence on the population sizes of herbivores, which is kept in check. Therefore, their populations can only fluctuate between certain limits because of this "feedback mechanism".

The forest vegetation will thrive if the number of herbivores is under control, provided of course the humans do not exploit it. This healthy vegetation will in turn protect the rainwater and safeguard the water table. All life forms, including humans depend upon these water catchments for their survival. Thus we can say that the Tiger is the guardian of many other creatures.

But for centuries now, humans have been poaching and hunting this magnificent creature, the Tiger, for sport, personal glory, for its skin and claws, thus threatening its very existence. The Indian government came to the rescue by building sanctuaries and wildlife reserves especially for the tiger, spread across many parts of the country, and called it “Project Tiger”.

Project Tiger Reserves in India:

The Project Tiger was launched in India in 1972 as conservation program for saving the Indian Tiger Population. Some of the best examples of this program’s success can be seen in the national parks of the Sundarbans and Rajasthan. But more wildlife conservation laws and awareness among people is still required to make Indian sanctuaries a safe haven for tigers.
· Bandhavgarh National Park
· Corbett National Park, U.P.
· Kanha National Park
· Ranthambore National Park
· Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary
· Sundarbans National Park
· Bandipur & Nagarhole National Parks, Karnataka
· Dudhwa National Park, U.P.
· Manas Tiger Reserve, Assam
· Nandankanan Zoo, Orissa

With the success of Project Tiger some of the sanctuaries have seen a bright light and Corbett National Park is the biggest example of it, having the highest density of tiger in India.

Indian Tiger population declines

Sadly, the population of the tiger is still declining steadily; so much so that the animal faces the danger of extinction if nothing concrete is done to save them soon. Here is a look at some of the statistics of the remaining population of the tigers in the world and in India.

http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/palaakso/tiger/population.html
http://teampub.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/save-our-big-cats/

According to this latest news report, Tiger population halved in the last 5 years
http://www.treesouls.com/wildlife-conservation/tiger-population-halved-in-the-last-5-years/

Save Tiger: FM announces special grant

[“After an NDTV campaign to save the tiger, the government has stepped in and announced a grant of Rs 50 crore for a Tiger Protection Force.

'The number 1,411 should ring the alarm bells,'' is how Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram voiced his concern over the depleting number of tigers in the country as he announced a special grant to save the animal in the Union Budget 2008-09.”] Quote

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=newen20080042734

Save The Tiger!

For more details on the Tigers of India visit this link:
http://wildlywise.com/tigers_index.htm

Here is a cool site with loads of info, on the Tiger, for kids:
http://projecttiger.nic.in/whyistigersad.htm