The Associated Press has reported that Indonesia is preparing to approve the construction of several roads through a park that has one of the world’s few viable populations of wild tigers.
The roads are planned for The Kerinci Seblat National Park which is home to an estimated 190 tigers – that may not sound many but remember there are only about 3,500 tigers left in the wild worldwide. The park is also is home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, elephants, clouded leopards, sun bears, more than 370 bird species and more than 4,000 plant species.
Two-thirds of the tigers in the park are adult females and it is one of the few places where populations have grown over the last five years, thanks largely to untouched habitat and anti-poaching patrols that have helped protect one of the few genetically viable populations left in the world.
Rather than trying to save tigers from extinction, it seems some people are trying to hasten the demise of this magnificent creature.
Just when will we learn to cherish the animals with which we share this planet?
Will this proverb come to pass before we come to our senses?
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
