Save Tiger -Why should we and How can we?

Why should we save a wild animal? Why should we save a predator like tiger that hunts game and man alike inside its territory? Should we protect tiger because it is our national animal? Is it just a matter of pride of our country and nothing else? These were the questions running at the back of my mind when I came across the Aircel initiative to save our tigers. Thanks to the information hosted on their website, I learned a lot about tigers and refreshed my lessons from primary classes about ecological balance.
Tiger, being a predator sits at the top of ecological pyramid.It acts a regulator and protector of natural resources which man values the most. Tigers hunt and eat the herbivorous animals and keep their population in check. Without predators like tigers the population of deers, wild buffaloes and other grass eating species would explode. These herbivores would strip the forests bare of vegetation and turn grasslands into barren grounds. The forests are fast depleting owing to the excesses of man and if these herbivores multiply in numbers, the inevitable would precipitate. In places where there is no forest cover, grass hold the loose soil together and retain the fertility of the soil. Without grass the topmost layer of soil gets washed away with rain into rivers and what would remain is arid silt.
The population explosion of plant eating animals would in fact directly affect man. These animals would walk into the cultivated lands and eat away the crops. Depleting forest cover has made rains rare, and unseasonal if ever they come down. This has already affected the crops and made it difficult to feed the ever increasing number of human mouths. This would greatly impact the demand supply curve. In India, it is not global crude oil prices that is causing inflation, it is whole sale cereal index. Thanks to bureaucratic blunders, India is short of food grains and prices of pulses have touched skies.With all the self inflicted destruction if other herbivores join the party, man would be left competing with other species for food and space. He would be no different than a early man with all his energies dedicated in attaining the basic necessities of food and shelter.
I am not exaggerating. We have only few predators lions, tigers and wild cats which hunt for need and not greed. They are nature's protectors and they alone can maintain the ecological balance. As a matter of fact a tiger covers 100sq km of forest area around it and protects various species in this area for the benefit of man. The presence of tiger dissuades tribal from going into the interior forests - the true nature reserves. These parts of the forests are inaccessible to the forest officials and could be easily exploited by money hungry humans with the help of uneducated and ignorant tribal who are well acquainted with the forest contours.
India has close to 50 % of world wild tiger population. On our planet, there are only 3200 wild tigers and out of it 1411 are in India( 2007-08 statistics). The tigers are hunted world over as a mark of virility and in most cases for the sake of money. A tiger is worth 20,000$ in the international market. Chinese use tiger bones in traditional Chinese medicine. Tiger bone champagne is highly valued in high societies of west. Owing to the price a tiger gets, there are tiger farms in China and USA. China has only 50 wild tigers but 4000 of them are in private tiger farms. Tigers are bred here to be sold as pieces. In USA many states allow individuals to own tigers. These tigers are not accounted for. And there are 5000 such tigers all over USA. Out of six species of tiger 3 species and many other sub-species have become extinct. The royal bengal Indian tiger is endangered.In India we have 37 reserves. Many of them now have poor tiger density. There are several reasons for their disappearance and most of them are man caused.
Some of the reasons are:
1. Poaching
2. Dacoit infestation
3. Man hunting down predators food like deer, buffaloes.
4. Depleting forest cover.
5. Building dams and other infrastructure in and around tiger habitats.
6. Infighting and territory clashes.
Tigers are not man eaters unless they are forced to. Yes there have been a few incidents where tigers killed human beings but the occurrences of man hunting down the tigers out number them. After all this I donated a 1000 INR to save tigers to save myself and my progeny from the multi-pronged adverse affects that I have stated above.
Will you join me ? Please donate to the WWF-India tiger fund at the below link. Minimum amount they accept is 500 INR. WWF INDIA TIGER FUND

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