Will our forests be the same without a striped creature? The silent stalker. The majestic carnivore. The Tiger. Ranger Rani is sure that it won't be the same.
Long, long ago tigers lived in a vast region of the wilderness that extended as far north as Siberia, as far south as Bali in Indonesia, far west in Turkey and far east as the coastal habitats of Russia and China. Along their range of distribution, the magnificent creature adapted to a variety of habitat. They made their home in icy cold mountains and woodlands and the warm, steamy tropical jungles. Today, their habitat is fragmented and they are endangered in the wild.
Nowhere is this more evident than with the Siberian tigers. In the beginning of the century, nobody thought Siberian tiger was endangered. By 2005, the population declined to only 500 tigers. Most of the tigers lived in the Russian Far East.
As if that wasn't alarming enough, 2008 census shows dramatic decline in Siberian tiger population. Like several people working with tigers, Ranger Rani wonders how this happened.
Body parts from Siberian tiger are considered to have powerful medicinal properties in Chinese folk medicine. Legal trade with Siberian tiger parts isn't possible. In the end, people choose to get them illegally. By poaching, hunting or setting traps, the Siberian tigers are captured and killed. The demand for tiger bones and meat is so high that poachers have killed tigers in zoos!
Ranger Rani also sees another reason. The forests that are home to Siberian tiger no longer have thick cover. Unlike lions, leopards and cheetahs, tigers require densely covered land where they can hide in tall grass. Here, they are perfectly camouflaged by their dark stripes, and ambush their prey.
Scientists are alarmed by the rate of loss of Siberian tiger. If the species is consumed at this rate, in ten years, there will be no more Siberian tigers living in the wild.
That is a real danger for the species. Scientists have a back up plan. About 20 years ago, scientists developed a plan to breed the Siberian tiger in zoos. Called Species Survival Plan, about 160 captive Siberian tigers participate in this plan. Experts think this population is large enough to breed genetically different individuals.
Ranger Rani chuckles at this idea. Siberian tiger is a wild creature. It is notoriously difficult to breed them in zoos. And when an animal has been bred in a zoo, by humans, the chances they will be released in the wild are small. If a captive bred Siberian tiger is released into the wild, it would starve to death.
Worse, the animals bred in captivity approach humans for food. Since they have no fear, they also don't know how to protect themselves when humans attack them. Like all tigers, Siberian tigers too learn to hunt from their mother. When the mother is born in captivity, how can she teach the cub to hunt in the wild?
For these reasons Ranger Rani believes there is no substitute for conserving the wild populations of Siberian tiger. But conserving them in the wild is filled with challenges.
The Siberian tiger is the largest of all living tigers. It is about 120-130 cm tall and weighs about 300 kg. Male tigers are bigger and heavier than females. Each male tiger requires a home range of about 40 square kilometers. And in this region, the tigers should find enough food to eat. Siberian tigers feed on wild boar, many species of deer, wild horse, moose or livestock. They too require grass to hide, trees and sheltered places to raise the family.
Human needs have no end. The human desire for perfect life is expensive when we compare how much the other species loses in the bargain. Ranger Rani doesn't know if Siberian tiger will be around for the next one hundred years. But she knows that scientists are trying hard and we each can make a difference in conservation efforts.
