What is an Endangered species?

Endangered means danger of the species becoming extinct or dying out.

Tigers are facing major population losses & extinction. Tigers are killed for sport, skins & body parts. The 1950s saw extinction of the Caspian tiger. The Bali and Java tiger are also extinct. The last Bali tiger was killed in 1937; the last Javan tiger was seen in 1972. India today has the largest number of tigers, with between 3,600 to 4,000. The South China tiger (20-30 are remaining), is nearly extinct in the wild.

Reasons for the Endangered Status

The Bengal tiger is endangered because it is poached for its body parts to cater to an illegal market. Another reason is habitat loss due to depletion of forest cover interference of humans and encrochment of forest land by people causing fragmentation. At the turn of the century, there were almost reportedly 40,000 tigers in India, but now only around 4,000 remain in the wild.

Why Save Tigers?

Tiger is symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem. By conserving and saving tigers the entire wilderness ecosystem is conserved. In nature, barring human beings and their domesticates, rest of the ecosystem is wild. Hence conserving wilderness is important and crucial to maintain the life support system. So saving tiger amounts to saving the ecosystem which is crucial for man's own survival.