Tigers In Danger Of Extinction

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32391, 2 September 1970, Page 21

Tigers In Danger Of Extinction

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW DELHI. The Indian tiger, hunted by man for centuries for the beauty of its skin, is threatened with extinction. About 40,000 tigers stalked the jungles 50 years ago, but now only 2000 to 3000 are left, naturalists say.

Unless the killing and progressive destruction of their natural habitat stops, Indian tigers, in a few decades, may be found only behind the bars of zoos. “The tiger will be extinct in 10 years, unless national parks and sanctuaries are put on a sound footing as reservoirs for neighbouring

forests and poaching and commercial shooting are controlled,” said Mr Hari Sang, a member of the Government’s expert committee on conservation.

He estimated that about 600 tigers were shot in India last year. In Uttar Pradesh alone, 65 tigers were shot under permits in 1968, while another 100 were shot illegally. Some tigers are shot because they become maneaters—still found in the jungles of Orissa and southern Bengal, where about 240 persons have been killed by tigers in the last six years. But most tigers killed have been shot by amateur hunters in search of the thrills of the hunt—seeking a snarling wall trophy or a tiger-skin rug with a story behind it Concerned at the nation's dwindling tiger population, Indian authorities last May banned tiger-shooting in

every state except Madhya Pradesh—the only province where a foreign tourist can still have two weeks' bunting with a money-back guarantee of one dead tiger at the end. The export of skins of tigers, leopards, and other cats was banned in July, 1969, about the same time as the United States, previously the main market, prohibited their import. But they still go out through India’s open border with Nepal—mainly to West Germany, Sweden, and France, where they fetch about $BOO a skin. Some experts feel that the present five-year ban on tigershooting may lead to an increase in poaching, while depriving the genuine sportsman of the chance to hunt

“Alcohol, tobacco, women, mountains—nothing is so exciting as shooting a tiger on foot with a heavy rifle,” said a nostalgic wild life

authority who has given up shooting tigers in favour of trying to preserve them. But the ban is widely welcomed as a curb on illegal or “unsportsmanlike” killing —from jeeps with powerful spotlights or at saltlicks and water holes. Along with the threat from the gun, erosion of the tiger’s dense forest environment poses a more gradual threat to its existence. Human encroachment into the jungles and disturbance of the tiger’s secluded breeding areas by forestry operations and the collection of forest products, such as berries and honey, have a long-term effect on the big cat’s survival.

Cows, sheep, and other domestic animals have overgrazed in forests and sanctuaries, cutting down the food stock for deer and other natural prey of the tiger. The

result is another major threat to the tiger’s capacity to survive.

In a bid to preserve the tiger and build up its numbers, the expert committee will soon submit to the Government a plan to create more national parks and sanctuaries in an organised conservation system. Its proposals include the creation of at least 12 new national parks—there is only one at present—and an increase in the number of sanctuaries from about 140 to 200. Human habitation and domestic animals would be banned from these wildlife preserves. Shooting would be controlled in the jungles surrounding well - guarded national parks, giving . the tiger a chance to breed and roam free over wide areas.