The worlds tiger population may have halved in the past quarter of a century, conservationists from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have warned, according to BBC online Wednesday.
The WWF told a conference in Stockholm there might be only 3.500 tigers left, and that one sub-species, the South China Tiger, could soon be extinct. Chinese demand for tiger body parts – used in traditional medicine – was described as one of the main threats.
But the WWF said if proper measures were taken, tiger numbers could rise. Conservationists have recently bought up land concessions from governments in an effort to combat the destruction of forests still inhabited by tigers.
The director of WWF Indias species programme, Sujoy Banerjee, said that there were now no more than 1.400 tigers in the country – a staggering 60 per cent fewer than in 2002. Mr Banerjee said a serious threat to the remaining tigers came from poor Indian farmers who are determined to protect the livestock that they depend on.
The situation in Indonesia was described as critical, with loggers having laid waste to vast tracts of the habitat of the Sumatran Tiger – the next most threatened sub-species. Based on current trends, more than 90 per cent of the countrys forests may have been destroyed by 2050, the group said.
