WWF-India has initiated a nationwide publicity campaign encouraging India to save the tiger, its national animal, from extinction.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger and WWF has enlisted the help of sports stars and celebrities in order to raise awareness for the cause. WWF initiated the campaign in January 2010 with the official Indian tiger populations at an all-time low of just 1,411 animals left in the wild.

So far more than 75,000 people have pledged their support online at a new campaign site – www.saveourtigers.com.

Diwakar Sharma, associate director for species conservation at WWF-India, was pleased with the response so far: “Public opinion is a must for this. Public-private partnership can change things. What we can do is try to influence this public opinion.”

Diwakar Sharma called on the Indian government to ensure that tiger protection policies are implemented nationwide: “State governments are certainly not fully aware of the situation. The Indian federal structure allows states to be independent from central government. However policies are not implemented.”

WWF-India has been actively working to protect the tiger since 1973 by creating special reserves and protected areas for the animal in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

Tigers once roamed freely across India and the sub-continent but extensive loss of habitat and poaching have caused populations to dip dangerously low.

Poachers killed at least 32 tigers last year with neighbouring China being the destination for tiger parts for use in the traditional medicine.

By Taylor Turner

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