tigers

Introduction

Tigers are a beautiful and interesting creature that once roamed freely around Asia, but now there are only around 4,000 of these amazing creatures left. And that is why my fertile question is how can we reduce the number of exstinctions in tigers. That is why we need to introduce stricter laws and regulations around tiger poaching and farming along with more education awareness in schools, in order to bring these needed creatures back to their original habitat. And throughout this report I will tell you why these are the best solutions to bring back the tiger.

What Tigers are being threatened

Before I show you what tigers are threatened I need to explain there are six surviving species of tiger including the Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger, Sumatran tiger, indochinese tiger, Malayan tiger, and the south china tiger. These are the tigers that still have a population in asia. The following are extinct species Caspian tiger, Bali tiger and the javan tiger. These tigers have gone extinct in only the last 100 years shown in the graph below. That is crazy because these animals are vital to their ecosystem and their environment around them being the apex predator. But cant be that apex predator if there are an estimated 4,500 tigers left in 2022. And throughout this report I will explain how we are going to raise awareness for the tiger.

This graph here shows on the X axis the habitat left in percentage and in brown the population. And on the Y axis the timeline between 1990 and 2050. The brown line is showing the decline in population and significant events in the history and numbers. The blue is the targeted forest reintroduction and protection goals and the orange shows the numbers in tigers and the navy blue shoes what will happen if no actions is taken.

What roles do tigers play in the ecosystem

Tigers play an important role in the animal kingdom because they are the Apex predators on land dominating all but humans. Along with being the apex predator they are the largest cat in the big cat family. Theses animals bring balance to the eco system and make there habitats the vibrant lush places they are. Such examples are when tigers hunt they lower the population of evasive/overpopulated animals to balance out the ecosystem. These ecosystems supply both nature and people with fresh water, food, and health. Securing tiger landscapes could help protect at least nine major watersheds, which regulate and provide freshwater for over 800 million people in Asia. Showing again and again how important these majestic creatures are to our world.

What are ways we can reduce the number of Tiger killings

When thinking of ways of reducing the killings in tigers we need to have a few different approaches. Fewer tigers can survive in small, scattered islands of habitat, which leads to a higher risk of inbreeding and makes tigers more vulnerable to poaching as they venture beyond protected areas to establish their territories. Tiger populations are still under a lot of strain, and some locations are losing them. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which monitors the condition of plants and animals nearing extinction, estimates that there are currently between 3,726 and 5,578 tigers living in the wild still facing extinction. We can begin

giving neighboring villages bordering tiger population protection for livestock and themselves. And that would protect both of the parties involved. There are also a few more solutions I will be talking about throughout this report.

To reduce the deaths of tigers we need to do several things as there is not one solution for all situations.

The most pressing task is to increase the area of safe landscapes where tigers can thrive. This can be done by joining up existing protected areas by safe corridors and ‘stepping stones’ that tigers can use. It can also be done by increasing the amount of land designated as protected landscapes. These don’t have to exclude local indigenous people but must include local people in the decision making and enhanced protection process. Community Forests where management of the land is done by local people can have legally enhanced protection measures where areas are zoned for grazing, or non-timber forest products.

This information came from my expert Esther Conway, Manager WildCats Conservation Alliance. This information has helped me far more than I could have thought it could have. It really changes your perspective when someone in the field brings information you would have not found.

Why are Tiger habitats being threatened

The main reason their habitats are being threatened is the rapid expansion in asia landlocked and coastal countries. Such as China with there large growing population and rapid industrialization in the country. Along with Russia with tigers only living in eatern Russia bordering China where they do not have a lot of land as they border a small town on that border called Ussuriysky State Nature Reserve, which is under threat from logging and

poaching. This nature sanctuary or Zapovednik is home to some of the last remaining Siberian tigers in the region. But with all of this bad and depressing news there also comes existing news with nepal's government over doubling there tiger population is 10 years previously thought to be impossible and India putting large efforts into conservation with them housing over 70% of wild tiger population. Another large issue is the multimillion dollar business of tiger farming,poaching and medicine with the industries being worth roughly 20 billion dollars. Because people believe it to be a lucturie or used for traditional chinese medicines. This shows how many uses tigers have and some of these being nefarious uses and that is why we need to look into the ways we can reduce the extinction rates in tigers.

Ways we can reduce the number of tiger extinctions

Before I go into the cold hard solution of what we should do, exploring options is the best way to come up with that solution and or soultoutions.

When looking into this I had asked my expert about specialized man made habitats and she said “Fortress conservation, which fences tigers into reserves, will not save the tiger in any meaningful way”. So Fortress conservation was not a viable option for tigers as they need a very large area to roam and explore anywhere from 5 Km2 on the very low end to 150 km2 and some tigers need 200Km2 so this is definitely not a solution.

Stricter laws

Stricter laws and regulations are definitely needed as there are already many implementations for illegal trade but there are still solutions around the laws for these criminals. Again asking my expert she said

“Laws and punishments already exist in all tiger range states. What is not happening is enforcement by the governments and judiciary. Targeting large scale criminal gangs that are source of not only illegal wildlife crime, but also drug trafficking, gun running and people smuggling needs to be well financed and supported”. I think that this should be one of my solutions as it can be implemented and could carry on for a long time and is a permanent solution to the problem.

Genetic reconstruction/ extinction resolution

When looking in to this topic I never thought about this as a solution this intrigued me greatly thinking of bringing back animals from the dead and repopulating once exstincted animals roaming the earth. But again I asked Esther Conway and she explained “This is not my field and tigers are not extinct. If an animal has been extinct in a landscape for any length of time, bringing it back will have a huge impact on species that may have moved into the area. Bringing back the Bali tiger Panthera tigris balica for example, would not work due to the expansion of the human population on the Island and the growth of tourism”.

So even know it is the most existing it would not work in the long run. This is disappointing as this also rules out cloning as they are both very expensive and would face the same problem.

Now I have some more answers such as stricter laws and regulations I will conclude this report by explaining in a concise order.

Conclusion

To conclude this report I will tell you the best solutions to reduce the rate of extinction in tigers.

Firstly we will need to implement stricter laws and regulations around tiger trade and farming. This would be a government implementation as the animals would fall under their jurisdictions.

Secondly e spanking tiger habitats like taking back unused and under appreciated land in the specific area along with giving boarding villages protections for live stock and them selves such as, tiger proof fencing and tiger proofing surrounding areas this would be a co impunentaion between government and villages they would pitch in money and it would be funded. And finally better awareness in schools and in public settings teaching people about tigers and how they are so important to our ecosystems. Throughout this report I have learnt far more than I thought I would have and I can conclude this was extremely beneficial, opening my eyes to new ways of thinking and helping save these wonderful tigers.

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