The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoelick has called for urgent action to be taken to prevent the tiger from going extinct. Last Wednesday Mr Zoelick, who is known to have a personal passion for the big cat, of which their is only an estimated 3500 left in the wild, called upon countries and organisations to work together for tiger conservation and against the black market trade in tiger body parts in South East Asia.

Joint Action

At a photoshoot for a photo exhibition held by National Geographic, focussing on the plight of endangered big cats, including the tiger Mr Zoelick said, “2010, the Year of the Tiger, must be the year in which we take joint action to save this majestic species”.

Prevent Extinction

The World Bank already works to eradicate world poverty, and improve living condition for people in developing countries across the globe. Zoelick sees this role to be closely tied to his mission to promote animal conservation and prevent the extinction of the tiger.

As he told reporters “Part of what this is about is getting people not to see development and conservation as opposing poles but how you can try to connect them together”.

Alliance

The World bank has already set up The Global Tiger Initiative , an alliance between 3o international agencies and governments to set aside more habitat for the tiger in countries such as China and Nepal, and recognises the need to work with developing countries to ensure the tigers survival;

By working with the countries in the developing world, that’s the best chance to save this species, which after all is in the developing world.”

Historic

With tigers having 40% less range than they had in 1951 and their numbers in rapid decline the World Bank announced in 2008 that “if current trends persist, tigers are likely to be the first species of large predator to vanish in historic times.”

This September a summit in Vladivostok, Russia, will attempt to gain conservation commitments for the world’s remaining tigers from their resident countries.