World Tiger day was first celebrated on July 29, 2010, at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit, Russia. That year, in all 13 tiger range countries came together and till 2022 they decided to double the number of tigers. This day is marked to solve awareness about the problems faced by the tigers.
Significance of the day:-
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were in all 100,000 tigers which dropped to 3,200 in 2010. There are all varied kinds of coloured wild cats such as White, Brown with black stripes, Golden tigers, and White tigers with black stripes. There are 4 kinds of Tigers: Javan Tiger, Tiger Hybrids, Caspian tiger, and Bali tigers. The extinct category is the Tiger Hybrids. The significance of world Tigers day is unknown but as per the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), tigers play a key role in maintaining the harmony of the planet’s ecosystems. They consume herbivores to balance the prey animals and forest vegetation on which the herbivores feed on.
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Theme of World’s Tiger Day: 2021: “Their Survival is in your hand” is the theme for this year. Last year the celebration was held online due to Covid-19 but for the rest of the time, this event is usually celebrated with great enthusiasm. India plays a vital role in the celebration of this day because India has around 70% of the global tiger population.
Reasons behind the threat to Tigers:
1. Due to human activities, tigers have lost their habitat, which has then caused over 90% of the tigers to extinct.
2. The rise in the water level has wiped the Sunder bans, which covered a lot of forest area; the forest is on the Indian coast and is shared by India and Bangladesh. The rise in sea level has caused the habitat of the Royal Bengal Tigers.
3. The huge demand of tiger’s body parts have caused Poaching and illegal trades which is another reason for the downfall of the number of tigers.
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How to conserve tigers?
The extinction can be slowed and eventually stopped if people start preferring sanctuaries and reservoirs instead of Zoos, try controlling the drastic climate change and conserve their habitat.