Tiger: the largest cat.

The tiger is the largest cat in the world. 
Because of hunting and persecutions its population has decreased very rapidly: in 1930, in Asia, there were 100.000 tigers, in 1940 (only 10 years after) they were 40.000 and in 1970 their number was only 5.000 and 2 years later they were less than 2.000. 
The measures against the poachers and the establishment of protected parks has led, since 1979, to a gradual recovery of the tigers, that today have reached approximately 6.400 specimens. 

However, it was calculated that today there are more tigers in zoos and circuses than in nature. 
The habitat of the tigers varies depending on the subspecies, from the Syberian coniferous forests to the mangrove swamps of Sundarban, to the arid scrublands in northwest India. 
The surviving species of tiger today are: the Bengal tiger (4.500 specimens), the Syberian tiger (450 specimens), the Chinese tiger (30-80 specimens), the tiger of Sumatra (400-600 specimens) and the Indochinese tiger (1.000-1.750 specimens). 

The Javan tiger has been driven to extinction (in the first years of the 19th century). The same thing happened to the Bali tiger (extinct in the 40s) and to the Caspian tiger (extinct in the 70s). 
The tiger meat is used in Malaysia as a remedy against the irritations to the spleen and stomach while, in other Asian areas, it is believed that eating some parts of the tiger gives courage and heals some diseases. In Taiwan there's a kind of "wine" produced with tiger bones. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

The snow leopard: let's not lose it.

The snow leopard is a beautiful feline which lives in central Asia between 1500 and 6000 metres above the sea level in a dry and rocky habitat. 
Its usual preys are wild sheeps and goats, but as the preys are scarce in the Asian mountains, it also eats deers, young yaks, wild donkeys and wild cattle. 
Today, it is estimated that the snow leopard population is of 4080-6590 specimens. 

The snow leopard is considered and endangered species by WWF. 
In the past, it was heavily hunted for its fur but today it is threatened mainly because of the disappearance of its habitat, as it's being "conquered" by the herders with their flocks. They are often killed by the drovers because, as the food is scarce, it happens that they attack the flocks. 
Furthermore, they are also killed because their bones are used in the Traditional Chinese Medicine instead of the tigers' ones. 

WWF and other organizations, like International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT) and Traffic (the international network which deals with the monitoring of wild fauna and flora) are launching an appeal to the countries where the snow leopard is present to get and immediate improvement in the controls and in the management efforts of the species to end the threat that hangs over it. 

You can...
...help these organizations and publicize this situation with as many people as possible, creating an increasing media pressure. 

What do you think about this? Write me to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com! 

Another horror China branded.

The latest luxury among the rich comes straight from China. 
Now to be different the trend is to organize dinners where a tiger is killed in front of a small group of people and then is torn to pieces and cooked. Some of them doesn't even wait the tiger to be cooked and drink its blood or eat its penis (thinking they have "magical" properties). 

The South China tiger is considered probably extinct. The Sumatra tiger is close to extinction and other tigers like the Siberian, the Indian, the Malaysian and the Indo-Chinese are at serious risk of extinction. 
The insane habits of these new rich are further endangering this beautiful animal species. 

The Chinese government made this illegal, but notwithstanding this, it keeps happening. 
The person who ate the (probably) last specimen of South China tiger is staying twelve years in prison; the one who ate three tigers in 2013 is spending decades in prison. 
It's not the first time that Asian "magical" traditions seriously endanger species that are already threatened or at risk of extinction (rhinos, moonbears, elephants).
When will they stop...? 

Japan, stop killing Bluefin tuna!

In Japan the Bluefin tuna is particularly prized (a single large fish can fetch more than $ 100.000). 
The large demand in this country led to aggressive fishing practices and the populations today are a tenth of what they were in the 1950s. 
The decline is faster everyday because of open-ocean pens where wild juvenile tuna are put: these animals are removed from the wild before they have spawned and this is deleterious for the survival of the species. 

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bluefin-tuna

82 years ago...the extinction of the Schomburgk's deer.

The Schomburgk's deer was anhelpc species which lived in Thailand. It lived in herds composed of 6-10 specimens in the low-lying and marshy areas of south-eastern Asia.
Its main characteristic were the long, tapered paws, totally different from every other American, European and Asian deer. Those paws were perfect to move in the unstable marshes in which it usually grazed the newly grown grass and shrubs.

Unfortunately, this beautiful animal was a victim of the industrial and demographic growth of its country: the rapid rise of rice request to feed an always greater population led to a total and indiscriminate reclamation of wetlands to be converted into rice fields.

As if that was not enough, the hunting of this animal exploded, to give meat to the workers who we're destroying its habitat.
The last Schomburgk's deer was probably killed on the 1st of August of 1932.

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)