Word: cats
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...same reasons that virtually all the world's big cats--tigers, cheetahs, snow leopards, jaguars and, to a lesser degree, cougars--are in trouble, reasons that have to do with the very nature of being a top cat in a world dominated by the top primate. Moreover, the reasons point to the limits--and ultimate failure--of the traditional strategy for safeguarding big cats: protecting them in wildlife reserves...
...cats, by nature, are territorial, live in low densities and hunt their prey over vast stretches of land (a tiger in the Russian Far East roams over 400 sq. mi., and a cheetah in Namibia will traverse 600 sq. mi.). A wildlife reserve has to be huge to support such animals, and even large parks can contain just so many of the fiercely territorial creatures. Big cats that roam or live outside reserves increasingly find themselves on turf staked out by farmers, herders and loggers, especially in parts of Africa and Asia where the human population is booming. Wild prey...
Around the world, the incidence of big-cat attacks on people is low compared with other natural perils. In India, tigers kill 30 to 40 people annually, while 20,000 Indians die each year from snakebites. Jaguars, cheetahs, snow leopards and clouded leopards have never been known to attack humans. In the U.S., 17 people have died from mountain lion attacks over the past 100 years; many more are killed by lightning in a single year. This year, however, California has had three attacks by mountain lions on humans--one fatal. All involved hikers or bikers in cougar country; their...
...India that pioneered the use of sanctuaries to save big cats. In 1973, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi became the toast of the conservation community when she launched Project Tiger, setting aside nine wilderness areas for tigers. Now India, with its neighbor Nepal, is leading the way in the next big phase in cat conservation: building links to turn isolated preserves into one continuous habitat. Scientists call this approach landscape conservation, and many believe it's the best hope for saving the world's tiger population, which, despite decades of effort, remains in peril: only 5,000 to 7,000 animals...
...friendly habitats and work out ways to bridge them. The Terai Arc program gives local people incentives to plant trees or tall thatch grass, which they can harvest and which tigers can use as cover. As forests and grasslands recover, deer, wild pigs and other tiger prey return. "Big cats can handle a modest amount of disturbance," observes WCS's Ginsberg, "but what they really need is cat food...