hope fading future of india tigers

The survival of the tiger in India is doomed, according to Indian conservationists, who say hope is fading fast for the big cat. They say an increase in poaching and a non-caring government are the final nails in the coffin for what is India’s national symbol. This is in contrast to a successful conservation initiative started in 1973 called Project Tiger. This scheme had the full backing of then Prime Minister Indira Ghandi and managed to double the number of tigers in the wild. However, in recent years, enthusiasm for the project has dropped as government ministers have focused more on the economy. The result is a rather shameful situation in which all of the tigers in India’s premier wildlife reserve, Sariska in Rajasthan, had been killed by 2005. There are now only 1,200 of the majestic beasts on the whole subcontinent.

Valmik Thapar, a well-known tiger conservationist said in a BBC documentary that: "We are living with the last tigers of India.” He said the Indian government was wholly responsible for the animal’s survival, saying: "If the government wants to save tigers it can, if it doesn't want to save tigers, it'll allow them to go extinct.” He added: "Never before in the history of this country has wildlife and forest governance been at such a low ebb…. It is inevitable that our tigers, leopards, lions and other wildlife will vanish." The BBC says two factors are behind the current poaching of India’s tigers. One is the market for tiger bones, used in traditional Chinese medicine; the other is the demand for tiger skins, used in ceremonial dress in Tibet. The trade in tiger products is extremely lucrative. A tiger skin fetches up to $20,000, while the bones fetch around $3,000 per kilo.