No one should be surprised that the world’s species most threatened by poaching have seen huge population declines in the last century. Elephants, for example, have been absolutely clobbered, with only 300,000 African elephants now left after numbering four million 80 years ago. But a number in a new World Tiger Day infographic= from the WWF left me astounded: 97 percent of tigers have disappeared in the last century. That means there are as few as 3,200 left.
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The WWF’s number is divided amongst six subspecies, with only around 2,200 of those individuals in what the WWF terms “viable, protected breeding populations.” The WWF population survey is based on data from 2010, but a 2011 census by the Wildlife Protection Society of India suggests the WWF statistic isn’t far off. The WPSI estimates that the current Indian tiger population, which makes up more than half of all tigers in the world, stands at around 1,700. The good news is that estimate is a 20 percent bump over older surveys.
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While poaching is a major threat to tigers, especially with a depressed population, the reason for such a long decline in their numbers is a corresponding loss of habitat. In the last 100 years, tigers have lost 93 percent of their historic range. For large predators that require huge territories, that loss is devastating.
As bad as things look for tigers, recovery efforts have been building momentum for some time. The Global Tiger Initiative’s recovery program, which aims to double the tiger population by 2022, has started being implemented by tiger countries after first being endorsed as a viable course of action 18 months ago. But until tiger pelts stop showing up on Craigslist, wild tigers will still be threatened.
Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.
Image via Born Free India.
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