Mizzou Weekly, February 18, 1999
MU Tigers for Tigers
In a way, it was Michael Baltz's recent fatherhood that helped trigger a new campus effort to help preserve critically endangered tigers in the wilds of Asia. Poaching and habitat loss have caused a dramatic plunge in the numbers of wild tigers. Some experts estimate that only 5,000 to 7,000 tigers remain in the wild, and those populations are dropping steadily.
MU's program, called "Mizzou Tigers for Tigers," is a first step aimed at raising public awareness of the plight of wild tigers. Down the road, program organizers hope to build partnerships with tiger preservation groups in Asia, raise money for research, and tap into the expertise and energy of MU faculty, staff and students.
But the idea had its genesis when Baltz, a doctoral student in biological sciences, was on a research trip to Costa Rica last summer. His sojourn in a wild, Central American rain forest sparked thoughts about what kind of world his two-year-old daughter would grow up in. "I was moved to do something to ensure that my child would inherit a living planet full of majestic animals," he says.
Back home in Columbia, Baltz fired off an opinion piece that ran in the Columbia Daily Tribune. Since the Bengal tiger is the mascot for Mizzou's athletic teams, he argued, wouldn't it make perfect sense for MU to lead the way with a tiger conservation program?
That idea fell on fertile ground. Mary Ratnaswamy, assistant professor of natural resources, read the editorial. "I said, 'Wow, this is something I would really like to do,'" recalls Ratnaswamy. "I wrote him a long e-mail right away and we got together and talked for a couple of hours about how to make it a reality."
Baltz and Ratnaswamy, along with Mike Nolan, director of international agriculture programs, sought out Chancellor Richard Wallace and asked his support for the project. Wallace officially debuted the program at Mizzou's Founders' Day celebration Feb. 11, sponsored by the MU Alumni Association.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, Mizzou is the first university in the country to involve the institution in tiger conservation. "We have a unique opportunity to support a very worthwhile cause that has special significance to this institution," Chancellor Wallace said. "We will do our best to ensure that there are wild tigers on our planet as long as there are Mizzou Tigers in Columbia."
That promises to be a big challenge. Much of the tiger's habitat in the wild is situated in developing areas of Asia, where tigers face threats from loss of habitat to farming and logging. One of the biggest threats comes from poachers, who sell tiger parts to be used in traditional medicines.
But with hundreds of tigers being bred in captivity, the chances for total extinction are slight. Why then is it important to preserve the big cats in their wild and natural setting?
In part, it's a question of philosophy, Ratnaswamy says. "For many of us it wouldn't be the same. If we confine an organism into a very abstract setting, such as a zoo, we've lost the phenomenon of wildness. It's a bigger, wilder world when we're not controlling every aspect."
Many of the long-term solutions for tiger preservation rely on finding answers to socioeconomic issues. That's an area where MU researchers, with expertise in community development and wildlife management, can play a big role.
Campus organizations and offices are stepping up to the challenge. Intercollegiate Athletics will help promote tiger preservation at athletic events. MU's student chapter of the Wildlife Society is looking at leading education efforts at the community Earth Day activities this spring. Tiger preservation likely will become the focus of other student activities in years to come.
The Tigers For Tigers web site contains information about tiger preservation efforts and includes links to such organizations as the World Wildlife Fund, which is a leader in preservation efforts. The web site can be found at http://tigers.missouri.edu.
Inquiries about the program can be e-mailed to: tigers4tigers@missouri.edu.