Why save Tigers?
CHAPTER XXVI The Brutal Encounter : Man and Tiger CHAPTER XXVII The Status of the Indochinese Tiger CHAPTER XXVIII Approaches to Tiger Conservation CHAPTER XXIX Roaring Back CHAPTER XXX Vision and Process in Securing a Future for Wild Tigers CHAPTER XXXI Saving Tigers in Dry Tropical Habitats CHAPTER XXXII The Big Cat Massacre CHAPTER XXXIII The Future of the Tiger in the Twenty-First Century  About the Author VALMIK THAPAR started his working life as a freelance photographer and documentary film producer. He presented a BBC television series on the wildlife of the Indian subcontinent entitled Land of the Tiger and has written numerous books and articles on Tigers.
Tiger is symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem. By conserving and saving tigers the entire wilderness ecosystem is conserved. In nature, barring human beings and their domesticates, rest of the ecosystem is wild. Hence conserving wilderness is important and crucial to maintain the life support system. So saving tiger amounts to saving the ecosystem which is crucial for man’s own survival.
Saving the tiger means saving ourselves… The tiger is a beautiful animal. But that is not the only reason we should save it. It is time to realize that when you save the tiger, you save the forest and in turn secure your food and water security. This is because to make sure tigers live, we have to make sure that deer, peafowl and all other animals that the tiger eats (its prey base) live. To make sure that these herbivores live, we must make sure that all the trees, grass and other plants that these prey animals need for food are protected. In this way, the whole forest gets saved! So the tiger becomes an indicator of the forest’s health and saving the tiger means saving its entire forest kingdom with all the other animals in it. By saving tiger forests, we protect the catchment areas of our rivers and recharge groundwater sources. How do forests catch and help store rainwater and protect soils? • Branches on the tallest trees catch the first raindrops and then pass • them on to the
The Tiger is a beautiful animal. But that is not the only reason we should save it. It is time to realise that when you save the Tiger, you save the forest and in turn secure your food and water security. The Tiger cannot live in places where trees have vanished. In such places, the rain becomes a flood, killing people and destroying homes. It takes away the precious soil, leaving behind a wasteland. The soil jams up our lakes and dams, reducing their ability to store water. By destroying the Tigers’ home, we not only harm Tigers, but also ourselves. There is a very direct link between saving Tigers and saving ourselves. The Tiger thus is the symbol for the protection of all species on our earth, from the tiniest mosquito to the largest elephant, from birds and flowers to crocodiles and frogs. This is why we call the Tiger an apex predator, an indicator of our ecosystem’s health. When the British left India, it left behind a Forest Service which looked after the huge forest areas of In
