Contents
Its Significance
Tiger Facts
Tigers Status and Distribution
Tiger Threats
Fate of the Tiger
Solutions
WWF Action Plan

 Acknowledgements
 References


Year For The Tiger


Foreword

The Chinese Year of the Tiger highlights the potent image of the tiger through the ages. From the Caspian region, through tropical Asia, and to the shores of the Sea of Japan, the tiger has cast its spell. People incorporated it into their religions and culture, and  even sought its bones to combat disease.

There might have been 100,000 tigers in the vast forests and tall grasslands of their range a century ago. Today, much of that forest and almost all of the grasslands have gone as a growing human population converts them to land for settlement and agriculture. Combined with excessive hunting, this loss of habitat has reduced the world tiger population to about a twentieth of its former number; as few as 5,000 may remain. And the threat to the tiger's existence continues, despite efforts during the past 25 years by dedicated conservationists from many countries.

The tiger is important because it is a symbol of our natural heritage and a key part of the web of life which sustains us all. It depends on its food base - mainly hoofed animals such as deer, pigs and cattle - which in turn relies on such natural resources as vegetation and water, and on the myriad of life forms which interact to recycle nutrients and energy.

The Year of the Tiger occurs every 12 years in the Chinese calendar; shall we still see tigers in the wild in the year 2010? There is no reason why we shouldn't, if governments and people work together to conserve the remaining habitat and protect the tiger and its prey from illegal killing.

So 1998 must be our Year for the Tiger, when we pledge to do all we can to ensure that our children and grandchildren can enjoy the presence of this mighty symbol of all that is wild on our Earth.

Peter Jackson
Chairman
Cat Specialist Group
IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Switzerland1.



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