I once saw this toy seller in India. By the side of a crowded traffic signal, he was taking a nap, resting on one of his life-sized, stuffed tigers.
In this rather intriguing glimpse, I saw something scary. And that became the prompt for my poem, “Stuffed”.
Looking at the stuffed versions of himself in the cities, what would a Real Tiger say?
As we celebrate tigers this World Tiger Day (July 29th), there is a little bit of good news.
The latest report of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on tiger conservation highlights that a century-long trend of wild tiger decline has finally been reversed – a truly rare and hard-fought conservation success story.
However, these gains are being taken with cautious optimism by conservationists. A hundred years back, probably 100,000 wild tigers roamed this planet. With only 3900 wild tigers left around the globe today, Tigers remain one of the world’s most endangered wild cats as their range continues to decline. Tigers today are restricted to less than 5 percent of their historic range.
There is a pressing need to increase global awareness about the plight and conservation status of this magnificent species and spread the recovery efforts as far and wide as we can, if we want to keep hearing that might roar in the wild.
Know all wildlife & environmental awareness days and the organizations working for them, here.
Poem Copyright ©2022 Gyaneshwari Dave
Cannot be used anywhere without prior written consent from the author.
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