21st CENTURY TIGER
At the beginning of the 20th Century, eight subspecies of tigers totaling about 100,000 individuals roamed the Earth. Three of those subspecies are now extinct and latest figures show that today there are less than 4,600 of these magnificent animals left alive in the wild. In India, estimates show there are less than 2,000 of these animals living where once tens of thousands roamed wild.
The decline in numbers is due to many factors including retaliation killings when tigers take domestic livestock or attack/frighten local people, the now illegal sport of tiger hunting when thousands were displayed as hunting trophies, and an ever increasing human population taking over the territory each tiger needs, competing with tigers for food as well as space.
Today illegal trade in tiger products poses one of the principal threats to the survival of wild tigers. The main reason for this is the demand for their body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, most wild tigers inhabit poor countries where the money which can be made from poaching provides a powerful incentive to kill tigers. Many of the tigers killed by poachers enter organised smuggling routes to other countries where the demand for their body parts exists. Significant seizures of tiger parts continue to be made by enforcement agencies in many countries and these give an indication of the scale of the illegal trade.
H.A.Bennett & Sons Pty Ltd are delighted to report that we have become a proud supporter of Indian tiger conservation. We will donate US$1 for every bag of Tiger Mountain raw coffee beans sold to 21st Century Tiger, which is a unique wild tiger conservation partnership between the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol.
21st Century Tiger have already successfully completed the Nagarahole Education project in the Western Ghats. The Nagarahole National Park is 643.34 km2 in size and surrounded by several major coffee plantation areas. There are only 50-60 tigers left in this national park and in this type of habitat each tiger needs about 200km2 of space to live in. This project worked to provide local people with knowledge of wildlife conservation, to raise awareness and build public support. The project targeted groups such as school children, educators, religious groups and local authorities to reduce human-wildlife conflict through work with local communities.
The new project we are proudly supporting is titled "Threat Reduction to Tigers through Empowerment and Livelihood Support in Malendad-Mysore Tiger Landscape (MMTL), Southern India". This project deals with the ongoing challenges of supporting the voluntary resettlement of tribal peoples from protected tiger lands in Karnataka, such as Nagarahole and aims to reduce adverse human impacts on tigers and promote tiger replenishment in these areas.
A bag tag has been sewn onto the coffee bags with details regarding the ongoing donations. Please visit www.21stcenturytiger.org for more information on the important work being done to save these superb beasts and their natural habitat.
