A few may have noticed this, but a lot of big cats have already been commercialized in public and some of them even have names. For sure you will not forget Simba from The Lion King, Tigger from Winnie the Pooh’s gang, Calvin from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, and of course, Aslan from C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. It is also surprising that they have reigned not only in movie productions, but also in many of the children’s food brands—the famous cheetah from Cheetos, and the tiger both from the cereal Kellogs and biscuit snack Tiger are just two of the many examples.
We could be indifferent about the appearance of these big cats in our televisions and kitchen counters, but there is a sad reality that lurks in the wildlife which badly needs our concern.
As of this writing, more and more tigers are being killed in Kenya; there are also more of them in captivity than they are in the wild. African lions, which have been a symbol of strength for most kids that we know, have also struggled to keep their number of sustainable levels despite the loss of much habitat. Snow leopards in Pakistan are also being put in tight protection for their population has gone down to 450 since the hunting of people for them began.
This is an overwhelming news maybe only to a few, because not a lot of people really know about this current saddening situation of these endangered big cats. That is why the National Geographic Society has paired up with Explorers-in-Residence and conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert to launch the Big Cats Initiative.
The Big Cats Initiative is a thorough program designed to support conservation projects, economic incentive efforts, and the most important, education and arousal of global public awareness through effective campaigns and comprehensive information and news regarding the status of these big felines.
Lions and tigers are the most known among people, but the program extends conservation actions also toward saving cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, and other big cats which are approaching their line of endangerment and probable extinction due to massive loss of habitat and widespread human hunting.
Lions, for example, have been found before in the regions of Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and even in northwest India, but right now, they are dying across Africa.
Many of them are also being subject to ruthless poaching because lion bones have recently become a hot commodity for hunters in South Africa. It would be surprising to know that in conservation areas such as the eastern part of Kruger National Park, lion poaching also takes place. Their number has plummeted to a global population of less than 20,000 in the recent years.
Tigers are not spared from poaching either , especially in India, where they suffer from this widespread crime. Their organs, eyes, and even their penis are being targeted by poachers. One incident has been reported where a group of poachers intentionally entered a zoo just to hack a tiger to death.
Snow leopards are substituted for tigers in some occasions wherein hunters collect their bones, skins, and organs to sell as ingredients for Asian medicines. They are also habitually killed by people who keep livestock.
While habitat loss is a great factor in the declining populations of big cats, it is undeniable that selfish human interests and indifference to their existence have also a big role to play as to why they are approaching extinction.
It is going to be sad when people are going to look for a lion and they will head out to a museum to see some preserved skeletons. We would not like it either to tell our kids how big tigers, jaguars, and leopards are and put them in front of the television because that is where they only exist. Perhaps as well we cannot afford to say that cheetahs are the fastest-running animals on Earth and just read their stories in deserted animal books and thick encyclopedias.
That is why a great and forceful move has to be made in order to ‘Cause an Uproar’ and awaken compassion towards our planet’s most precious big cats. You can make a difference by donating through National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative website and participate in supplying the program resources in order to save more lions, tigers, cheetahs, and other great felines. What you can give is probably just your few dollars, but you can be sure that it will go a long way in fueling Big Cat’s Initiative’s worldwide rescues.
“If there was ever a time to take action,” says Dereck Joubert, “it is now.”
Krissy Tilla-in writes about these endangered species, in hopes of lessening the ill deposition of these animals. Because of Fly First’s cheap domestic flights to South Africa, she gets the chance to know more about these hapless wildlife. Help save the endangered. Cause an Uproar!
