Abandon 'hopeless' tiger populations and save the few we can, say experts
Tigers confiscated from the residence of a businessman earlier this year sit inside a cage at the Animal Rescue Centre in West Java, Indonesia. Source: APSeptember 15, 2010
Ben Webster
Times Online
PROTECTING tigers in the wild should be abandoned in parts of Asia and conservation funding focused on a few key sites where there is hope of successful breeding, a study has recommended.
It stated that tiger populations were now too low in several countries, including China, Vietnam, Cambodia and North Korea, for there to be any realistic chance of numbers recovering to a sustainable level.
The study by the University of Cambridge concluded that all public and private funding for tiger conservation should be devoted to 42 core sites in six countries where numbers could recover to include at least 25 breeding females.
