India is home to some of the greatest diversity of wildlife on Earth. Within this extraordinary ecosystem, one species needs our intervention more than ever – the tiger. Though the tiger is instantly recognisable and one of nature’s most charismatic and revered animals, promoted in cultures the world over, it is also persecuted and killed with alarming prejudice and brutality.
A century ago there were an estimated 100,000 tigers across Asia. Since then, numbers have collapsed by 96% to just 4,000. These are the last days of the tiger, officially classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Wild tigers face many threats to their survival, including human-wildlife conflict, poaching for their body parts for traditional ‘medicine’, and habitat loss due to deforestation and chaotic or ill-considered rural development.
But there is hope. Born Free’s unique Living with Tigers initiative is working across the Satpuda area of central India to tackle the poaching crisis, safeguard tiger habitats and find conservation interventions for communities and wildlife to live together peacefully. Efforts include our dedicated teams of Tiger Ambassadors – local villagers trained to identify signs of tiger presence in their area to assist if conflict occurs. Then there’s our Mobile Education Unit, visiting local schools to teach children about wildlife conservation.
It is hard, committed and long-term work, and we haven’t much time left. The good news is that we’re making progress, because in the last 10 years, tiger numbers have increased to a population of 500 across the Satpuda landscape.
With your generous support we can increase our efforts and expand into new areas. We can work more widely to counter the causes of this crisis – in our Satpuda landscape and across Asia. Our goal is to safeguard wild tiger populations in central India while conserving their habitat and promoting co-existence.
India without tigers is unimaginable; a world without wild tigers is a disaster, but we are dangerously close to that catastrophe. Will you please help us protect tigers for future generations?
India, with 1.3 billion people, is the second-most populated country in the world. This remarkable country has experienced such rapid development that the space for wildlife is under exceptional pressure. But Satpuda, in the heart of central India, is a stronghold for the country’s remaining wild tigers.
Our programme, and our Indian partners, are helping to conserve one of the largest remaining populations of tigers and their habitat on Earth. The forests of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra consist of seven tiger reserves connected by forest corridors which allow tigers to roam freely across hundreds of miles in their natural habitat.
That’s why Born Free’s Living with Tigers initiative is so important. It supports Indian NGOs in their work, within their own communities, to find solutions to conflict. This is genuine co-existence, under the toughest conditions – improving livelihoods, habitats and the life-chances of humans and tigers.
It’s not too late to save India’s tigers. With your help we aim to:
- Safeguard wild tiger populations in central India
- Work with more local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict
- Create more protected areas so that wildlife can flourish
- Educate more people on the importance of conservation and approaches to co-existence
Together we will protect tigers, in the wild, for future generations.
A century ago there were an estimated 100,000 tigers across Asia. Since then, numbers have collapsed by 96% to just 4,000. Wild tigers face many threats to their survival, including human-wildlife conflict, poaching for their body parts and habitat loss due to deforestation rural development. Our goal is to safeguard wild tiger populations in central India while conserving their habitat and promoting co-existence.
You can help us protect wild tigers for future generations
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