Burning not so Bright?
Can we really look the tiger in the eye...
Feared...
Loved
Tiger, tiger
One of the world's 
most powerful predators...
That many would love to embrace.
Mrs Indira Gandhi, 
then Prime Minister 
of India, 
with a tiger cub 
on her 50th birthday. 
Mrs Gandhi, set up 
a special task force 
to plan India's 
Tiger Project, 
which was launched 
on 1 April 1973. 
No other animal on this planet 
can bring such a nerve-tingling range  
of emotions and reactions
to our minds.
Yet one that we are rapidly & relentlessy 
driving to extinction 
in the wild.
that put tigers in their logos, in their literature or on their products...
To all those companies 
To those entire nations 
who assign the qualities of a tiger to their laudable efforts

To those of us
who have at some time or other
pinned images of this true king of nature to our walls...
The scientists tell us we have arrived at a TIPPING POINT.
Is their last refuge outside of zoos
going to be on our letter heads, 
in our poems & songs  
and on our childrens' bedroom walls?
and confess that we admired everything about it
...except its existence?  
NOW is the time 
where WE decide their fate.
(c) Uros Kovandzic / iStockphoto
There are now more 
       captive tigers in the US 
       than there are in the wild

In the 1990's there were around 7,700 tigers. 
Up to 70 tiger traps are recovered EACH MONTH 
      in some forests of Indonesia
In the last 10 years 
      the wild tiger population has fallen 
      by more than 40%
Today, there are as few as 3,200 in the wild
We have lost 3 of the 9 sub-species of tiger 
in the last 70 years
A tiger carcass can fetch
as much as US$35,000
panda.org/tigers
WHY?
Already, 2 of India's tiger reserves have no tigers.
And more are on the verge of losing theirs.
Yet bought for as little as US$200 from a poacher
By any standard, it is a truly remarkable animal.
Bengali tiger, Madhav Shivpuri National Park, India
© National Geographic Stock/ Michael Nicols / WWF
Female tiger captured by camera trap in Rimbang Baling-Bukit Tigapuluh Corridor, Riau, Indonesia. The picture was taken on 22th July 2009 © WWF-Indonesia / Tiger Survey Team
Portrait of a captive male Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) © Joel Sartore/National Geographic Stock / WWF International
Tiger (Panthera tigris), Bandhavgarh National Park, India.© Staffan Widstrand / WWF
And revered...
...a sign in the Chinese zodiac 
...a figure in some the world's major faiths
...an emblem for entire countries 
and make millions from tiger tourism
 
- cut down, burnt, built on or replaced by plantations -
Tigers are poisoned, shot, trapped and snared.

Then skinned, crushed, mixed and poured.
© Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon
Tiger skin seized at Shiphol Airport Netherlands, 1992 
© Wil Luiijf / WWF-Canon

Tiger bones' medicine seized at Melbourne airport.  Australia
© Frédy Mercay / WWF

Tiger bones, skull & skin recovered by staff of the Royal Chitwan National Park Nepal
© Soh Koon Chng / WWF-Canon

Chitwan National Park - Confiscated tiger and leopard skins and bones. Nepal
© Hartmut Jungius / WWF-Canon

Display of ivory and skins(clouded leopard,leopard,tiger and python skins. Also elephant tusks). A stall in Tachilek market. Across the border from Maesai in Thailand. Myanmar (Burma).
© Gerald S. Cubitt / WWF-Canon

Chinese medicines containing tiger and rhino parts confiscated by the USFWS.  Los Angeles Airport, USA
© Wil Luiijf / WWF-Canon

Tiger bone products found at the Buyer Beware launch, International Airport, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
© David Lawson / WWF-UK
© Chris Martin Bahr / WWF-Canon
(That's 3 lost in the span of a single, western, human lifetime!)
93% of their historic range has gone