Wild Tigers Could Be Extinct in 12 Years

Tigers could vanish from the 13 countries where they still roam wild unless urgent action is taken to safeguard habitats and deter poaching, experts warned at a "tiger summit" in St. Petersburg today. In only 100 years, the tiger population has dwindled from an estimated 100,000 to about 3,200, the World Wildlife Fund reports. Encroachment on habitats due to logging and construction, as well as trophy hunting, are some of the biggest threats. Rather than see the tigers disappear by 2022, the goal is to double the population in the next 12 years.

However, such an effort will not come cheap. To fund the first five years of the plan, the Global Tiger Recovery Program estimates that countries, which include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, and Russia, will need $350 million in outside funding. "To save tigers you need to save the forests, grasslands, and lots of other species," notes the director of the WWF. Read the full article. (More tiger stories.)