Save the Tiger: Climate Change and Humanity Threaten Remaining Population

Tuesday's International Tiger Day highlights the need for drastic action to protect tigers in the wild, which are increasingly at risk of being wiped out because of both humanity and climate change.

The day is meant to raise awareness of the dwindling population of this beautiful and exotic species. It was founded four years ago at the 2010 Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit, and since then has been celebrated every July 29, according to Blue & Green Tomorrow.

A century ago, there were hundreds of thousands of tigers roaming in the wild, but due to hunting and forest destruction there are now as few as 3,200, the National Geographic estimates, with three sub-species already extinct. And with all remaining five sub-species listed as endangered, conservationists worry that soon all the tigers will be gone.

Threats to the Big Cats

According to Blue & Green, some people worry that all wild tigers will become extinct in the next five years as threats persist. Deforestation continues to reduce their habitats, as seen in Indonesia where a study in June found 840,000 hectares of Indonesian forest had been cleared and is consequently pushing Sumatran tigers to the edge of extinction.

And if loss of habitat isn't enough, this is actually making the tigers more vulnerable to illegal hunting, their other biggest threat. Tigers are often victims of poaching, wanted by hunters for their valuable fur and body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicines.

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference decided to take decisive action against the illegal tiger trade this past February when they met at a London conference. They agreed to strengthen law enforcement against the illegal practice, renounce the use of wildlife products from species threatened with extinction, and amend legislation to make poaching and wildlife trafficking "serious crimes" under the terms of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, according to a press release.

"Tonight we are here with a single, shared purpose - to use our collective influence to put a stop to the illegal killing and trafficking of some of our world's most iconic and endangered species," Britain's Prince William, who attended the conference, told guests in a speech.

"Never before has a group like this come together - in these numbers - to stop the illegal trade in wildlife. All of us in this room have a duty to make sure that tomorrow is a date that marks the beginning of the end of this despicable trade."

The summit talked of illegal trade in elephants and rhinos as well as tigers.

Illegal trade has also taken away tigers sources of prey, leading to food scarcity and reduction in numbers.