Tiger with extended paw

What Can We Do
To Save Tigers?

From Tigers in the Wild: Wanted Alive! by P. Jackson and E. Kemf and the 1996 WWF Species Status Report, WWF-World Wildlife Fund of Nature, by Gland and Switzerland.

Tiger reflected in water

Revenue from eco-tourism should be shared with local communities who cooperate in protection and management of tiger reserves.

Scientists closely involved with managing tigers at the local level, Hemendra S. Panwar of India and Hemanta Mishra of Nepal, pointed out an important lesson more than a decade ago: unless local community needs are met, national park and reserve systems will perish and conservation of the tiger will not succeed.

Action at the Local Level

Local institutions and people. In most situations, a sustainable tiger conservation strategy cannot be achieved without the full participation and collective action of individual, rural households whose livelihoods depend on access and use of the forests where the tigers live. In developing management plans for tiger habitats, increased attention needs to be given to community-based. These include natural resource management groups, community organizat ions, women's associations, and credit management associations.

Technologies for conservation of resources. There already exists a wide range of technologies and practices in agriculture, forest and watershed management, both traditional and new, for conservation of resources. The internal biological processes that regenerate forests and make agriculture less damaging to tiger habitats take time to establish. However, evidence suggests that with the right circumstances, residents are capable of taking care of their environment.

Conservation of tiger habitat and prey. In many areas around tiger habitats, grazing lands for livestock have been converted to crops or degraded by excessive use; livestock are of poor quality and productivity; wood for fuel has been exhausted; sources of income are limited. The rehabilitation of natural resources by local populations is essential if they choose not to find their living requirements in protected areas. The requires sustainable development with the support and cooperation of specialized government units and the non-governmental conservation community.

Sharing the Benefits

Revenue from eco-tourism should be shared with local communities who cooperate in protection and management of tiger reserves. This requires a special tax on hotels and tour operators, who are presently the main beneficiaries of tiger tourism.

Tiger Corridors

In order to prevent genetic deterioration in small, isolated tiger populations, extensive areas of natural habitat, which are well stocked with large prey, must be maintained. Given human pressures on tiger habitats, it may not be possible to increase the size of many present reserves, but the situation can be improved by maintaining corridors between them, and allowing individual animals to migrate -- ensuring a broad gene pool.

Action at the International Level

Countries with tigers have limited financial resources which have to be used to tackle urgent, human-related concerns. The international community (in effect, Europe, North America and Japan) has a duty to provide financial and technical assistance to ensure there are sufficient, well-trained personnel to protect the tiger, a symbol and heritage that belongs to the world.

How MT4T funds conservation efforts

Mizzou Tigers for Tigers (MT4T) is a program affiliated with the University of Missouri (MU) that harnesses the unique strengths of a world-class academic institution to provide research and educational opportunities that will contribute to tiger conservation while simultaneously enriching the experiences of those in the university and mid-Missouri community. Our ultimate goals are three-fold: to enhance student education opportunities, to enhance the international stature of MU among those engaged in global wildlife conservation issues, and to increase the likelihood of wild tigers persisting for the decades and centuries to come. The program attempts to reach this goal in several ways: by organizing outreach programs and bringing prominent conservationists to Missouri to discuss the plight of the tiger with the public, by training MU students on the nuances of running a non-profit conservation organization, and by working to fund projects that will benefit wild tigers and people who live near tigers.

Because MU is a taxpayer-funded institution, MU administrative support for MT4T cannot be funneled to non-university affiliated tiger projects, most of which are carried out in Asia. Thus the majority of the funds dedicated to tiger conservation by MT4T are raised by the student chapter of the organization. Members of the MT4T steering committee then work closely with the student group to identify appropriate mechanisms to direct these funds to field projects.

The vast majority of field work on tigers in Asia is funded with international support, principally from the United States and Europe. Within the United States, much of this support derives from four organizations: the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Tiger Program (USFWS), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Save the Tiger Fund (STF), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The later two agencies (WCS and WWF) are directly involved in Asian field work, while the former two (USFWS and STF) are principally granting agencies, with funds derived either from federal sources (USFWS) or from diverse public and private sources (STF) channeled to appropriate projects across the globe. Nonetheless, these four institutions work closely with one another and with international partners to identify and prioritize needs and to support those programs deemed to be most critical. Virtually all important tiger-related projects in Asia, be they research or community focused, are fully or partially funded by one or more of these organizations.

MT4T recognizes that it does not have the on-the-ground knowledge and contacts throughout much of Asia to identify the most appropriate projects for its student-raised revenue. Thus, the group has chosen to work closely with two of these organizations (STF and WWF) to direct student-raised funds to appropriate field programs. STF and WWF have worked closely with MT4T to identify appropriate and valuable projects that can act to galvanize the enthusiasm of our student group and enhance the recognition of the work MT4T is conducting to aid the persistence of wild tigers. As a result of these interactions, these large conservation programs have recognized the value of a program like MT4T, and representatives of STF, WWF, and WCS have visited MU on multiple occasions to discuss tiger conservation efforts with the MT4T steering committee, the MT4T student organization, and the broader university community.