Is this the last Year of the Tiger?

Fifty years ago there were an estimated 4,000 Chinese Tigers ( Panthera tigris amoyensis) in the wild but today it is the most endangered of the five remaining tiger species – with perhaps less than one hundred left in existence.

At the same time, the entire global wild tiger population is now estimated to be as low as 3,200 – almost half what it was in the last Year of the Tiger. Over the last 10 years, the size of total tiger habitat area has decreased by 45% due to human activity and today tigers occupy just 7% of their historic habitat area.

With that in mind, we decided to start the new year with a little positive action and instead of wasting money on the ususal new year tat, we're hoping to make a little difference while welcoming a few new members to our extended family…

Representing a ray of hope for their critically endangered species, we adopted these Chinese Tiger cubs through an initiative of the Save China's Tigers organization. And at the same time we’ve also made a symbolic adoption of a tiger family through the WWF adoption programme.

These adoption programmes, and other initiatives like it, are essential to safe-guarding the long term survival of these magnificent creatures and all that they represent. Without our immediate action, there may be none left at all when the Year of the Tiger comes around again in 2022.

WWFis the world’s leading conservation organization, working in 100 countries for nearly half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat climate change.www.worldwildlife.org Save China's Tigersis a registered charity and helps raise awareness of the plight of the Chinese Tiger and other endangered cat species in China and strives for their protection and preservation through public education, introduction and experimentation with advanced conservation models in China, as well as raising funds to support these initiatives.www.savechinastigers.org

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