November 24, 2010 | Writer Toni Brown
At the four-day International Forum on Tiger Conservation, which ended Wednesday, Governments and conservation groups pledged $327 million with the goal of doubling the wild tiger population by 2022. The summit included guests such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Leaders from all 13 countries where tigers still live in the wild: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, took part in the St. Petersburg, Russia, summit.
It was presented as a last chance for the wild tiger whose numbers have dropped from 100,000 to 3,600 over the past 100 years.
According to the Global Tiger Initiative, Poaching, illegal trade and habitat destruction have forced the animal to the brink of extinction. They estimate that wild tigers exist today in less than 7 percent of their historic range.
World Wildlife Fund Director Jim Leape said, “I am confident that we will look back on this day as a turning point in the effort to save one of the world’s best-loved animals.”
The wild tiger population is less than 4 percent of what it was a century ago.
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