Tiger count in India is up from the last year’s scandalously noted figure of 1411 – LOL – as if you could really do a head count of the tigers!

All you ignorant TV surfing folks out there, count of tigers or any other VIP animal (in the wild) for that matter, are given in approximations. So, one could say, India has around 1400 tigers plus or minus 50 or something like that. You could of course say we have exactly n tigers in xyz ZOO!

Anyway, coming to the latest count, it is being said that there are around 1700 tigers in the wild. Is it a cause for celebration? We don’t think so!

A lot more needs to be done if we really wanted to save tigers!

Banning of tiger tourism is not at all a way to do it. Here is our list of bans required which are more important than banning tiger tourism:

• Ban all mining for one year! Import raw materials and export finished goods or services. Check Japan for inspiration.
• Ban felling of trees forever – a tree anywhere should be allowed to die a natural death. If felling of trees can be allowed on any pretext, then perhaps euthanasia could also be allowed!
• Ban all infrastructure projects for one year! Only contractors and their cohorts (we all know very well who those cohorts are) are benefiting from these projects, not the people or the country! Remember, money doesn’t grow on trees! So, where will it come from for all these infrastructure projects?
• Ban manufacture and sale of all vehicles for one year! In this age of advanced communications, why do people want to constantly and aimlessly, flit here and there? Check again! Where’ll the money come from for burning all that fossil fuel?

There are many more things that can be banned, but we don’t want to risk getting accused of blasphemy! Will the Honorable Superior Authorities take notice?

People reading this post… please offer your suggestions on what is more ban-able than tiger tourism?

We feel very strongly about, and invite our visitors to debate on tiger tourism in tiger reserve core areas. We have seen remarkable improvement in habitat and tiger numbers in the few tiger reserves where tiger tourism is allowed in the core areas. Moreover, where it is allowed, it is usually a small percentage of the core area and it is strategically and systematically regulated. So we are kind of surprised by the sudden activism to totally curtail tiger tourism in core areas. An op-ed page report “Ban on tourists no boon for tigers” by C Sarath, in The Hindu dated July 31, 2012, presents a nice perspective on the whole matter.

We invite you to leave your valuable comment on this site and debate on tiger tourism in tiger reserve core areas.

As we all know, tiger is at the top of the food pyramid, and tiger conservation cannot be done without conserving that food pyramid, which itself entails conserving the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Loss of green cover depletes the herbivores and depletion of the herbivores leaves the tiger hungry, real hungry! What a condition for the poor jungle king to be in? But, there is hope and some action. Acclaimed wildlife conservationists from all over the world recently got together and made a historical effort in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh – central India.

We bring our readers a special report on the Historic Reintroduction of the Indian Bison (Translocation from Kanha to the Bandhavgarh National Park). Read the full report published here with the kind permission of the author, Rakesh Shukla. An abridged version of this report first appeared in the print edition of Central Chronicle of Bhopal.

Redeeming Our Pledge for Wildlife Conservation, was originally published in the print edition of Central Chronicle of Bhopal on September 30, 2010. Read the full article reproduced here at SaveTigers.com, with the author Dr. Rakesh Shukla’s permission.

Dr. Rakesh Shukla is a wildlife research officer in the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and is currently based in Kanha Tiger Reserve. He is a winner of the ABN-AMRO Sanctuary award.

Are we gonna give this royal splendour a chance to survive? A Tiger at Kanha National Park, photographed by Sudhir Mishra, FRO.

Let the trees flourish and tigers will save themselves.

We read somewhere in the news that an educational institution spent INR 100,000 (around US$ 2,275) to adopt a tiger in a zoo for an year. First of all, a zoo is a very wrong place for a tiger to be in. Secondly, a zoo has funds allocated already to take care of the national animal.

We would rather this amount was spent on adopting trees in the villages. Each student of that school could have adopted a tree. You could adopt a tree and then look after it like your own child. Form a group and go to villages and forest fringe areas to educate people about saving nature to save tigers. Motivate the village folks, especially children for adopting trees in partnership with your group. Your group could provide moral support and other incentives to that person or child on the spot, who will actually save the tree.

You know, if you or your group have sufficient resources, you could even buy a piece of land and setup a plantation in partnership with the local folks. Why we are stressing partnership with local folks is that they are the ones who will ensure protection to the trees. Saving the trees will in turn save tigers.

Many of our readers have been asking what to do? There is widespread agreement and awareness of the need to save tigers, but the public needs an action plan which is not tied down by the so called red tape. Many people say they will contribute funds but have doubts if it will ever get used in the right time and manner? So, we will suggest here, things to do!

Let’s be very clear. Tiger killing is NOT the major reason for the dwindling tiger population. THE major reason is the dwindling forest cover and ever increasing encroachment of the forests by us, humans. An adult male tiger needs about 80 to 100 square kilometers forest area overlapping the area of about 2 to 3 female tigers to survive and reproduce.

What we can do? We have to educate, mold public opinion and actively participate to increase the forest cover and arrest deforestation. WE have to cut down OUR industrial and consumerist greed!

For a start, form a group of like minded people and start planting trees and protecting them. If you have lot of funds, buy out areas in the forest fringe areas and build non-commercial plantations with lot of trees. You could even pool funds if this is not possible individually. Create a society or trust and do this!

Please also see some of our past comments in the below pages for more ideas.

http://www.savetigers.com/our-comments-upto-06-feb-2010

http://www.savetigers.com/our-comments-upto-13-feb-2010

http://www.savetigers.com/our-comments-upto-20-feb-2010

Jairam Ramesh, the central minister in charge of the environment and forest ministry in India, recently questioned the detractors of the proposal to divert the stretch of NH7 between Seoni and Nagpur. This stretch of about 130 KM passes through a critical area within Pench Tiger Reserve in central India, and it is feared that maintenance and up-gradation of the national highway would do irreparable damage to the protected area. The supreme court of India has put a stay on the highway up-gradation.

The diversion proposed via Chhindwara would increase the distance by about 40 KM, which is not a big price considering the damage that would be done otherwise. Chhindwara is an upcoming industrial town and this could also help the local people.