I wanna be a tiger!

If I was a tiger, i would receive (among other 3200 tigers, left on the planet) a piece of $1 million USD donation, promised by sweet Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Mr DiCaprio was one the world known celebrities, along with Naomi Campbell, to attend Tigers summit in St-Petersburg, Russia, last week.

“If we don’t take action now, one of the most iconic animals on our planet could be gone in just a few decades. By saving tigers, we can also protect some of our last remaining ancient forests and improve the lives of indigenous communities.", - calls DiCaprio through his website. His Leonardo Dicaprio Fund At California committed $1 million USD to WWF to save tigers.

Actually, only two facts remained in peoples' minds after the summit: the visit of DiCaprio and cruel jams. For 3 days the city was blocked because of diplomatic escorts. First, Mr Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, arrived, then political leaders and experts’ delegations from 13 countries, where tigers still alive: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Russia itself.

(Sourse: WWF)

Geographic puzzle

 

Why the city of Peter the Great was decided to be the best place for discussing the problem of saving tigers? Nobody knows for sure. St-Petersburg is the most European part of Russia, and no tigers were seen in this area ever.

That's Russian East, mainly Primorye and Khabarovskiy kray (the south of Far East of Russia, which is near China, North Korea and Japan), where tigers can still be found.

The way from St Petersburg to Vladivostok (the capital of Primorye) takes 7 days by train...Anyway, that was decided by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to hold the Tigers’ Summit in St-Petersburg, his home place.  «And let nobody accuse us that we are talking nonsense, that we gathered all political executives to discuss cats», - said Mr Putin opening the forum, so that nobody dare to ask such questions. 

Cats mathematics 

The numbers of tigers worldwide have dwindled to 3,200 from about 100,000 a century ago, according to WWF research. Tigers' problem wounded World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, who organized the Global Tiger Initiative in 2008, targeting the summit in 2010 as the time when tiger countries must figure out a plan for solving the problem. 

 

That was actually the idea of todays' summit in Russia - to endorse the 12-year Global Tiger Recovery Program. According to the plan, 13 participating countries are going to double the number of tigers by 2022 by developing conservation programs and cooperating across national boundaries to stop poaching and illegal trade.

To handle the program, each country allocates fund from national budgets, but also more $350 million USD is needed over the next five years to pay for the program of saving tigers. WWF undertook to contribute $50 million USD and decided to increase this figure up to 85 million. The same amount, $50 million USD, was promised by WCS. International organization based in India, Global tigers forum, will send $250 000 USD for saving tigers in Nepal.

USA also plans to grant $9,2 million USD for fighting with illegal trade of tigers' parts. Germany plans to allocate $17,2 million USD for saving tigers in Russia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam

World Bank is ready to credit of around $100 million USD for nature conservation programs to Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. And Global Environment Facility(GEF) will allocate $12 million for tiger conservation programs as well as programs decreasing greenhouse effect. 

Russia itself will spend around $45 million USD for conservation of Amur tiger (or Siberian tiger) in Russia, according to Yuri Trutnev, Russia's Natural Resources Minister. He also said that Russia and China will create a protected area for tigers alongside their border and pool resources to combat poaching. 

«The main thing is to integrate our plans in the plans of economic development of Russia, - Mr Putin said. - The great Humanist Mahatma Gandhi once said that where tiger feels good, a man feels good. If a human can take care of the nature, he can take care of humans also. The country should be developed on the base of such principle as stable and responsible attitude towards nature and its resources».

WWF’s 12 Priority Landscapes for Saving Tigers

Attention! Rabbits!

Studying all these figures above, one can get confused. And Mr Putin's statement about the importance of the occasion doesn't work actually. To host such summit, with celebrities, business and political elite, diplomats, it costs a pretty penny. Air transfers, best hotels, evening treats in Strelna (President's residence), concerts in Mikhailovkiy theater...

As a journalist of Fontaka.ru counted, the annual expenses for only one tiger in the whole city of St Petersburg, which is leaving in a zoo, do not exceed $15 000 USD (food and medical treatment). That doesn’t cover the expenses even for one foreign delegation at Tigers summit, I suppose.

There are only 450 tigers left in Russia, considering 50 000$ which you will get for one killed tiger in black market, it comes $22,5 million USD. Russian country leaders are ready to spend almost 2 times more for saving the cats. If I was a tiger…

But I’m a human and I’m a citizen of this country. And my people are dying  from cold, diseases, poverty and drugs. It seems that's not a "pussy" topic to discuss, isn't it?

We, people, better prepare for upcoming Rabbit year (according to Chinese calendar). Rabbits are tigers' meal as far as I know, so maybe out political leaders would like to gather again and discuss how to spend little more money to increase the rabbits population?

Photo source: WWF, Official web-site of the Prime minister of RF