The cost of keeping Tigers alive......$80m!

[V S Sankar]

The BBC reports that the cost of conserving tigers in the wild is about $80m per year.

Out of this $50m is avalable.But the rest needs to be ensured.

42 breeding sites have been selected and the estimation is for conserving the majestic animals in these places.

Reporting in the "Plos Biology" the authors feel that the animals can be re-populated to other places once the 42 sites identified have been properly managed.

There are only 1000 breeding females roam the jungles of the world out of a population of 3500 tigers.

In Asia only India is having good tiger conservation efforts.In other parts of Asia especially Pakistan the animals have vanished.

The tigers are found only in about 7% of their historical range.The "source" sites would enable it to be present in about 0.5% of the area it used to span.

The figure of $80m is the price for conserving the animals in these 42 source sites.32 of them are in India,Sumatra and Eastern Russia.

The remaining amout to conserve the tigers must be found otherwise they are doomed to be extinct.

The big hope is in Russia where a Tiger Summit is proposed to be held in November 2010 and senior National leaders are expected to participate.

One of the members opined that "Tigers can easily breed if you can protect them"..........

Can we protect the Tigers????

Please click on the following link to read more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11304611

Regards