Tiger Clusters Seen As Last Hope For Species
Asia’s tiger population could be close to extinction with fewer than 3.500 tigers remaining in the wild and most clustered in fragmented areas making up less than 7 percent of their former range in Asia, a study says.
The study in the latest issue of the online journal PLoS Biology says saving tigers living in 42 sites across Asia from poachers, illegal loggers and the wildlife trade is crucial to prevent the species becoming extinct in the wild, the report’s lead authors from the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society say.
The World Bank, global conservation organization IUCN and Panthera, a big cat environmental group, also contributed to the study.
According to the study “efforts should be concentrated on the areas where tigers live… and especially where they breed”.
“The immediate priority must be to ensure that the last remaining breeding populations are protected and continually monitored,” it says, adding if that does not happen, “all other efforts are bound to fail”.
The price tag for the plan – which would require greater levels of law enforcement and surveillance – would be around 82 million US dollar a year, the study says.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
