“Tigers and leopards and domestic cats” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!),” but it’ll have to do because that’s what this post is about: three degrees of well-being among cats both large and small.
Tigers first. These beautiful creatures are gravely endangered. In fact, according to a NYTimes editorial on Nov. 23, “tigers could go extinct in the wild within 20 years.” Unbelievable? Not once you learn that a century ago “there were an estimated 100,000 tigers living in the wild” – and now “there are perhaps 3,200 left.”
A summit meeting underway right now in Russia may make the difference for tigers. It has drawn conservationists and World Bank reps as well as delegates from the “13 nations with tigers living in the wild, including India, Indonesia, Thailand and Russia.”
The hope is for a focused conservation strategy and an end to the trade in tiger parts. Details available via this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24wed4.html?emc=eta1
(To be continued after Thanksgiving: leopards, who are reportedly making out much better in the modern world than tigers, and an amazing cat sanctuary in California.)
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