Could Wild Tigers Be Extinct in 12 Years?

Wild tigers could become extinct in as little as 12 years if countries don't soon take action to protect their habitat and crack down on poaching. The World Wildlife Fund says that fewer than 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, while a century ago there was over 100,000. This huge drop is because their habitat is being destroyed by forest cutting and construction, and their skins and body parts are used in Chinese traditional medicine and therefore fetch a huge prize for poachers. The summit that is going on to bring awareness to this issue is hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin who has used tigers and other animals to support his image. A wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population by 2022 was approved by the summit. It's backed by 13 countries that still have wild tiger populations. These nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia. Specialized reserves are also being set up for the tigers with the effort to restore and conserve the forests around them to help the tiger population to expand. One way these nations are funding this is by donor commitments. The Global Tiger Recovery Program that was approved at the summit estimates that $350 million is needed in outside funding in the first five years of the 12 year plan in order for it to work. Many supporters of this plan say that saving tigers have a much higher effect the idea of preserving a graceful and majestic animal. In the words of the Global Tiger Initiative, "Wild tigers are not only a symbol of all that is splendid, mystical and powerful about nature. The loss of tigers and degradation of their ecosystems would inevitably result in a historic, cultural, spiritual, and environmental catastrophe for the tiger range countries." The subspecies of the Bali, Javan, and Caspian have already become extinct in the last 70 years. The hope is that these new efforts will be more succesful than the highly diverse efforts of the past.

I am hopeful that these new programs to help save the tigers will work. Even though I'm not much of a fan of tigers, I think it's sad whenever any kind of species is in danger of becoming extinct, especially when it's the fault of human civilization. These tigers were here before us, and now we have destroyed their land for our purposes and poachers have killed them for the sake of making money. How much more selfish can we get? Now obviously, we need some land to build buildings and homes on, but I don't think we should do it to the point of causing animals to become extinct. I'm very glad that his new plan sets up some reserves for them and efforts will be made to conserve their forests and new poaching laws will be enforced. Also, when one animal become extinct, it isn't like they're gone and everything else goes back to normal. Living things are all part of a food chain, and when an animal like the tiger goes extinct, it will have a dramatic effect on the rest on the chain. Tigers are at the top, so when they aren't there to prey on other animals, there will be an overpolulation of numerous species. That is never a good thing. Then for those animals that had previously been the tiger's prey, they might run out of their own prey because with an increase in their population there will be more competition to find their own food. Their prey might become extinct. This all becomes one problematic cycle because one link is broken, which in this case would be the tigers. I really hope these efforts work and that tigers will not become extinct in 2022.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40298964/ns/world_news-world_environment/