You may not realize (I didn't) that three subspecies of tigers have disappeared from the planet since the 1930s. The Balinese, Javan, and Caspian tigers are gone. Gone. There are no individuals in zoos, no hope of re-population. All we have left are a few dusty pelts and photos.
For real.
Photo by Mayankkatiyar / Wikimedia |
That leaves us with nine subspecies of these iconic animals, and all of them are endangered.
Enter the World Wildlife Fund. We know its name, and most of us recognize the panda symbol, but WWF is not just a big front that shells out pretty calendars and stuffed toys to make a profit. The people behind the panda, like Eric Dinerstein (who contributed a great tiger story to my book, The Back Road to Crazy), are helping us hold on to the few tigers we have left.
The proof is in the, well, proof.
At last.
And hope is a powerful force.
WWF is on a roll, and they're dedicated to doubling the world's tiger population by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.
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