Burning Bright

In the early 1990s there were estimated to be 7,600 of them remaining in the wild; now there are only 3,200. I am talking, of course, about the tiger, the biggest and most iconic memeber of the cat family, and a towering figure in human culture, including William blake's famous poem.

Not only have the numbers plummeted but three of the nine subspecies are extinc, while a fourth is almost certainly extinct in the wild. A fifth is only just hanging on and its future hangs in the balance.

With these statistics one might almost be tempted to throw in the towel - especially since there is no lack of tigers in captivity. However, captive tigers will lose much of their attraction in our eyes if we also lose the charismatic image of the wild tiger, stalking the frozen wastes of Siberia, the forests of the Mekong or the swamps of the Sunderbans.

Besides, the figures hide some successes. Amur (Siberian) tiger numbers were at an all time low (less than 100) in the 1960s but have climbed back into the 400s today. India, which is home to approximately half of the world's tigers (the rest being spread among 12 other countries) has had spectacular local successes in some of its national parks (although failures in others) and the latest count records an overall slight increase.

What is driving the overall decline, though? Currently, the main driver is the demand for tiger parts - especially bone - for traditional Chinese medicine. The skin market, although less important, is still significant in some regions. However, much of the poaching is done by snares where deer, wild pigs etc. are the primary target - for their meat, of course. Apart from the fact that poachers will not pass off the gain to be made from a tiger that is found in a snare, this poaching is also depriving the tiger of its food base. Apart from these threats, bad infrastructure planning and human-tiger conflict also contribute to the declining numbers.

I have only seen a wild tiger once, in Corbett National Park, in India. Before going there, a friend said to me: "When we were in Corbett, half of us saw a tiger and the other half didn't". On clarification, she explained that she was in the half that didn't. When I was there just a week later as part of a large group, the experience was similar, but I was lucky enough to be with the "half that did".

Last year was the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger and leaders of the 13 tiger range countries contributed to a doubling of the numbers by the next time the cycle comes around in 2022. It remains to be seen if this is achieved. It would be an achievement that the countries can be proud of.