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Habitat Destruction
Unfortunately, the forests that are home to the tiger are not very
safe these days. People are cutting down trees and putting up big
factories. They are dirtying the air and the water.
Tigers need lots of space to roam around. They need to meet other
tigers from other forests. But we leave only very tiny jungles for
tigers to live in. Tigers, deer and all the other wild animals cannot
live in a small, dirty home. Would you like it if someone came with
big machines and destroyed your house?
The tiger's home is being threatened throughout the country. Vast
forests have been felled for timber or agriculture. Only small fragmented
patches remain. As forest space is reduced, the number of animals
in the forest dwindle, and tiger can no longer find enough prey
to survive. This is when tigers are forced to enter village fields
and eat livestock. This is risky as villagers often kill the tiger
to protect themselves and their livestock Population Fragmentation
is another problem that arises because of habitat destruction. Groups
of tigers get separated from each other by human habitation. So
tigers in one area can no longer mate with tigers in nearby areas.
They are forced to breed with a small group of animals and over
time, this inbreeding weakens the gene pool, with tigers being born
with birth defects and mutations, which would eventually lead the
tiger to extinction.
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Poaching
Of course, only a very few silly people kill animals for fun nowadays,
but a there are a lot of cruel people who kill them so that they
can sell the dead tigers and make money. They sell tiger skins,
bones and claws to people in India and abroad. These evil people
are called poachers and they hide in the forests with guns.
People living in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and other far-eastern
countries have started paying people to kill tigers in India so
that they can use their bones for medicines which they believe can
cure them of all kinds of diseases. More than 200 tigers have been
killed recently and this is a cause for great sorrow.
On top of this, many Chief Ministers have started removing protection
given to tigers saying that their jungles are being wasted. These
people want that the jungles should be torn up and used for cement
factories, aluminium mining and other such industrial processes.
Then, when the jungles have been ruined, they will say "These
are wastelands, so let us dump all our poisons and garbage here."
This is all very sad. And the worst part is that if we allow them
to do all this then it is you youngsters who will have to pay the
highest price. If forests die, the tigers will certainly die. But
so will our water supply. This will lead to floods during rains
and droughts later. All because some people believe that making
money today is more important than saving nature for tomorrow.
Some good forest guards and people who love tigers try to stop
the poachers, but it is often very difficult. There are less than
2,000 tigers left in India today and some conservationists believe
that poachers are killing one tiger every day!
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Tigers In Captivity
Even the best zoo cannot even come close to the tiger's natural
home, the rich, wild forest. If we continue to destroy the tiger's
home and only keep specimens in the zoo behind bars and expect the
species would survive, we would be the losers. Protecting the tiger's
natural habitat is what saves the tiger, not locking it up in unnatural
zoos. A tiger does not have any freedom in a zoo; often its cages
are dull, cramped, unclean and it may not even have enough food
to eat. Some zoos may create large forest-like areas with water
pools for tigers, but its never the real thing! The tiger is put
on display as if it were an object to look at and laugh or tease.
We must tell our zookeepers that we children do not like looking
at animals ill and suffering in zoos. Often, animals die because
they are treated badly or not given adequate veterinary care. 13
tigers dying in the one of the best-managed zoos in the country,
the Nandankanan zoo in Orissa came as a shock to Indian authorities
who started questioning whether it was really necessary to have
zoos at all.
It's much the same thing with circuses. People used to go to circuses
and even take children there because they thought the big cat 'shows'
were fun. But their trainers often starve them and use whips to
get them to learn a 'trick'. Tigers can be suffocated when they
are transported in small crates and cages as the circus travels.
Besides whips, tight muzzles, iron rods and electric prods may be
used. Luckily, now people have realised that it is cruel to use
animals in the circus for our amusement and cruelty can never be
amusing. We must promise to never, never go to a circus or a zoo
for an outing or a picnic. Let's go on a nature trail instead and
watch animals 'live'! There's so much that nature has to offer,
that we will never ever be bored!
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