Today is
International Tiger Day. Instituted a decade ago, the purpose is to draw
attention to the need for protection of this stunning species, and towards this
purpose to engage in sustained measures to ensure the conservation of these
endangered animals on planet earth.
Pics taken from Navin Raheja's "Wilderness Days"on Epic Channel
According to
WWF’s data a mere 3900 tigers remain in the wild today. What a horrendous,
magna decline from the turn of the century when there were over 1,00,000 tigers.
Some positivity emerges through the WWF’s news that “after a century of
decline, overall wild tiger numbers are starting to tick upward”. However the
agency adds that Tigers are still under threat from poaching and loss of
habitat.
In India, in just a few years the tiger population has doubled and India is now home to about 70% of the tiger population globally.
In India, in just a few years the tiger population has doubled and India is now home to about 70% of the tiger population globally.
My pal Sharmila has created this radiant
artwork
Sharing to celebrate International Tiger Day 2020
In the 70’s the
Government of India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had initiated “Project
Tiger”. From under 2000 tigers in India at the start of the project, the
numbers increased to more than 3000. There ended the happy story, as in moved
in the poachers. Apart from apathy on part of government machinery, hostility
by locals around the animal sanctuaries and other factors, the major reason for
the failure of the project were the bounty hunting poachers. In the 80s
Ranthambore and Sariska Sanctuaries boasted having more than 40 tigers in each
park. It dwindled to a mere few to zero, as wildlife parks turned from
sanctuaries into harvesting grounds for ruthless poachers.
Why poaching? Every
part of the tiger’s body has sale value. It is especially sought after in China
where traditional Chinese medicine advocates its usage. Read more on poaching
of big cats on the following sites:
Epic Channel
appropriately telecast today a documentary titled “Wilderness Days” made by
wildlife enthusiast Navin Raheja. Read more about the making of the documentary
on:
Some excerpts and images from this interesting
documentary:
Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh
housed several “celebrity” tigers, primary among them being tigress Sita
Since 1980 Sita has been photographed the maximum. Mahout Kuttapan has photographed her over 1500 times. In her life span of 17 years she had six litters. Other famous tigers were Banka and Charger. Charger had no problems with hoards of tourists viewing and photographing him.
Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh had no tigers. Tigers were introduced here resulting in the tiger numbers zooming from zero
to fifty in ten years
Tigress P141 was a famous inmate of Panna sanctuary
Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan was home to tigress Machchli who became especially famous for fighting a crocodile. The battle lasted several hours, though she emerged victorious, she had to forfeit three of her hunter teeth.
In her 20 year lifespan (1996-2016) Machchli gave birth 4 times with a total of nine cubs
Read more about the International Tiger Day:
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