AsianScientist (Jul. 30, 2011) – The recently publicized death of a tiger caught in a hunter’s snare on the Indonesian island of Sumatra highlights the persistent danger the big cats face as the world celebrated Global Tiger Day yesterday on July 29, 2011.
The tiger, a young male, was ensnared for five days before help arrived, and eventually died from its injuries. The area in Central Sumatra where the tiger was found earlier this month is under increasing pressure from poaching and logging. Only about 400 Sumatran tigers survive in the wild.
The incident comes eight months after a historic Tiger Summit “+1” hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which brought together NGOs, conservationists, civil society, and leaders from 13 tiger range countries to forge a plan that would see the recovery of the endangered species.
“Clearly poaching is still a major threat to the tiger which only continues to grow,” said Mike Baltzer, Head of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. “As Global Tiger Day festivities get underway, we call on the governments and their leaders to honor their commitments from the Summit and take strong action to clamp down on poachers.”
Global Tiger Day follows an announcement on Thursday by the Indian government of a 2010 countrywide estimation of tiger numbers, showing that the national population had actually increased by 20 percent to 1,706 individuals from the previous census in 2006.
“These results show that with good protection, unyielding government commitment and robust participation from partners and civil society, poaching can be reduced and tigers can thrive,” said Baltzer. “Where those vital elements are missing, tigers continue to be killed by poachers.”
WWF has pledged to help double the number of wild tigers by 2022, whose population today stands at only 3,200.
To commemorate the event, WWF released a video produced by WWF International, Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia, and SEQ (Sequence) Production Sdn. Bhd. called Saving tigers: Mila’s story.
In the video, Mila is a young Indonesian woman who learned about the plight of tigers at an early age and dreamed about doing something about it. After graduating, she joined WWF as a tiger conservationist, and uses camera traps in the thick forests of Indonesia to photograph and film tigers.
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Source: WWF.
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