Yahoo News Tigers will be extinct in the wild ‘within a decade’, experts warn
Tigers could be extinct in the wild within 10 years, as the last century has seen 96% of the population disappear, a charity has warned.
Born Free says that poaching and habitat destruction have meant that just 4,000 tigers are left in the wild.
The British charity is now working alongside Indian organisation to safeguard the estimated 2,000 tigers there by safeguarding habitats and tackling poaching.
Howard Jones, CEO of Born Free said, ‘India is home to some of the greatest diversity of wildlife on Earth.
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‘Within this extraordinary ecosystem, tigers need our intervention more than ever due to countless threats including human-wildlife conflict, poaching for their body parts for traditional ‘medicine’; and habitat loss due to deforestation and chaotic or ill-considered rural development.
‘It’s unimaginable to think of a world without tigers but unless we act now, the consequences could be dire.
‘We urgently need support for our Living with Tigers initiative so we can encourage human-wildlife co-existence through education and by involving the local community in a number of unique initiatives to improve their livelihoods.’
Born Free says that 85% of conflict between people and tigers comes when people venture into tiger habitats.
The charity and its Indian partners hope to safeguard territories for tigers.
Kishor Rithe, Founder of the Satpuda Foundation, a partner of the Living with Tigers network said, ‘’There are canals, roadways, railways, transmission lines and all sorts of projects that are proposed across the landscape.
‘I believe that every responsible agency should think about ecological security and have inbuilt mitigation plans with their project proposals.’
