Tigers In Crisis

This watercolor painting recieved an Honorable Mention at the Visions and Views juried art show last week. This was held at the VIVA Art Center in Sherman Oaks.

Tigers are on the ten most endagered species list!
My painting of “Tiger Tiger Where!” is dedicated to bring attention to the plight of disappearing big cats. Since 1900, the tiger’s habitat and numbers have been reduced by up to 95 per cent. Poachers, poisoned waterholes and steel wire snares all intended to kill tigers and tiger prey. Why? To sell their skins and body parts for traditional Chinese medicine.

International conservation efforts have been doing their best for 20 years, to save tigers and other endangered species, are losing ground to save the tiger and all sub-species. This has become critical.

Three subspecies of tigers have become extinct in the last 60 years, this averages out to be about one every 20 years.

•Bali tiger extinct in the 1930’s
•Caspian tiger extinct in the 1970’s
• Javan tiger extinct in the 1980’s
Tigers in the 1900’s numbered over 100,000 then dropped to 4,000 in the 1970’s. Now they are a critically endangered species with only five remaining subspecies living in small, isolated populations in widely scattered reserves.

The Bengal tiger, or Royal Bengal tiger, roams a wide range of habitats including high altitudes, tropical and subtropical rain forests, mangroves, and grasslands. They are primarily found in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanma.

Indochinese tigers are located across southern China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia Laos, Thailand and eastern Burma. It is estimated fewer than 1,500 Indochinese tigers are left in the wild. However since the tiger has a very wide range, it makes it difficult for researchers to determine the exact numbers. Some scientists believe the numbers may be a few as 1,200.

The Siberian tiger (or Amur- tiger), is considered a critically endangered species with the primary threats to its’ survival in the wild being poaching and habitat loss from intensive logging and development. It is estimated the wild population of Siberian tigers at around 350-450 tigers.

The South China tiger is the smallest of all the tiger subspecies, and it is the most critically endangered. Little is known about their exact numbers in the wild, but some estimates would put the number at under 20 tigers. Others would say that estimate is high. The reality is that no South China tiger has been seen in the wild for the last 20 years.

The Sumatran tiger is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra off the Malaysian Peninsula. Their habitat ranges from lowland forest to mountain forest and includes evergreen, swamp and tropical rain forests. It is estimated that only between 500-600 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild, and the actual number may be as low as 400. And their population is dwindling rapidly

The tiger is a critically endangered and was once found in a vast region of wilderness that extended as far north as Siberia, as far south as the Indonesian island of Bali, as far west as Turkey, and as far east as the Russian and Chinese coasts. From icy cold mountains and forests to steamy, tropical jungles, the tiger species has adapted to a variety of terrain. Tigers prefer to live in densely covered land so they can hide in tall grasses and camouflaged by their dark stripes, to ambush their prey.

Again with most endangered species, Tigers are losing habitat and compete with expanding human population and industry for land and food, and along with being killed by poachers who sell their skins and body parts as stated before for ingredients for traditional Chinese medicines.

If trends continue, the wild tiger could evolve from being an endangered species to become and extinct species and that would be a crime. We would only see painting, photos and visit them in zoos. You can help by checking out the links I have listed below. Thank you for data and references below.

www.tigersincrisis.com