Alan Rabinowitz, the biologist who heads Panthera, a group fighting to save the last wild cats, wrote this "postcard" for the Dot Earth blog of The New York Times. More on tigers in the wild here: http://j.mp/dottigers Panthera's Web site: http://www.panthera.org/

1. Turning the Tide for Tigers –
A Dot Earth “Postcard” from Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of the conservation organization Panthera
A local, dominant male tiger resting in a pond in India’s Kaziranga National Park.
I recently flew to Bangkok to join many of the world’s leading tiger experts, law enforcement specialists
and my closest peers to assess the state of tigers and map out the conservation actions required to ensure
the long term survival of the species.
Two years ago, during the International Forum for Tiger Conservation in St. Petersburg, unattended by
Panthera, grand promises including a ‘new’ $330 million dollar pledge for tiger conservation were made
by international NGOs, governments, political leaders, celebrities and others (much of which had already
been designated for tiger projects). Today, as suspected, few of these resources have reached or impacted
conservation projects, and tiger populations are still hemorrhaging.
Inhabiting less than 7% of its historic range, the tiger has experienced the greatest range collapse of any
large cat and is now one of the most endangered large mammals on earth. Numbering in the tens of
thousands at the beginning of the 20th century, the most optimistic, current estimates of the world’s wild
tiger population hovers below 3,200 individuals. Along with habitat loss and overhunting of tiger prey by
humans, the most catastrophic tiger losses are caused by rampant poaching to feed the insatiable demand
for tiger skins and other body parts that are sold on the illegal wildlife market throughout southeast Asia.
To stop the bleeding, I, in collaboration with one of Panthera’s founding Board members, J. Michael
Cline, and a group of the world’s foremost experts on tigers from the Wildlife Conservation Society
launched the Tigers Forever program in 2006 to increase tiger numbers at key sites by 50% over ten years
(this program is now implemented by Panthera and Save the Tiger Fund). To achieve and evaluate our
progress towards this goal, Panthera hosts a Tigers Forever conference each year, convening a suite of

2. existing and potential partners from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Fauna & Flora International,
Zoological Society of London, Aaranyak, Wildlife Institute of India and other organizations to pour over
the most recent findings on tiger populations, share conservation strategies, milestones and challenges and
strategically prioritize what is needed on the ground, now, to save tigers.
Focusing heavily on law
enforcement, measurement
and monitoring, this year’s
6th Tigers Forever meeting
has produced tremendous
results from open, harsh and
insightful discussions about
our successes and failures. In
Thailand’s Huai Kha Khaeng
Wildlife Sanctuary, where I
conducted the first field
research on Indochinese
tigers and other big cats in
the 1990s, our partners at the
Wildlife Conservation
Society have found that Local villagers supported by Panthera and Hyderabad Tiger Conservation
building stronger, local Society remove wire snares in India’s Kawaal Tiger Reserve
informant networks and
ramping up unpredictable, frontline enforcement patrols in vulnerable areas has significantly increased
early detection and arrests for tiger poaching. These efforts are helping to grow tiger populations and
we’re seeing an expansion of the tigers’ use of habitat in the region. We’re seeing similar, encouraging
results in other Tigers Forever project sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, and India.
Coupling the expertise of global tiger scientists and law enforcement authorities, conservation strategies
and outcomes are being improved by analyzing global environmental enforcement, trends in cross-border
trade, corruption, and social and economic incentives and disincentives for both poachers and patrol
members. The Tigers Forever team is assessing the impact of patrol leadership on efficacy, examining the
success of foot versus motorized patrols, and outlining crucial logistics for anti-poaching activities, such
as cooperative poaching raids made with multiple NGOs and government agencies to ensure jurisdiction
coverage, apprehensions and convictions.
In Northeast India’s Namdapha Tiger Reserve, long
considered an ‘empty forest’ due to widespread
poaching, Tigers Forever camera trap surveys
carried out with Aaranyak and regional partners
have also revealed the first ever photos of a tiger,
left, along with new record photos of over 30
mammal species. Panthera's local partner in the
southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the
Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society, has also
worked with the Government to establish tiger
reserve status for Kawaal Wildlife Sanctuary. In

3. India’s Western Ghats, Panthera is working with Karnataka state officials and the Nature Conservation
Foundation to reduce habitat fragmentation of tiger reserves and institute enhanced social security and
welfare measures for forest guards.
This year, thousands of Panthera’s high-tech digital camera traps, now in the 4th generation, are
additionally being manufactured and deployed to Tigers Forever project sites across Asia to help identify,
monitor and measure trends in the world’s remaining tiger populations.
Of all the big cats, we are undoubtedly in full crisis-mode when it comes to saving tigers. But hope
remains for the species because of programs like Tigers Forever, which are constantly and vigorously
improving conservation actions by maintaining transparency, working in partnerships, using the best
possible science and investing in the best possible human capital, including scientists, guards, park
wardens, and informant networks, who are part of a growing conservation community committed to
ensuring that tigers exist now, and long into the future.
View Panthera’s Tiger Infographic.