What Have Numbers Got To Do With It?

Just some numbers I've come across lately that are rather interesting.
We'll start with this. I was curious the other day, after some conversations with the parentals. And I found this.
http://www.earthsendangered.com/list_html.asp
When you eventually find your way to the bottom of this enormous list, you will find the total number of endangered animals. As of today, there are 10,801 endangered animals on the planet.
10,801!
Now while you think about that figure.
Think about the money spent on that so-called 'World Tiger Summit' last November. Basically, they spent around USD 1.4 million of taxpayers' money so that they can sit happily in an air-conditioned room in a fancy hotel in Russia and use flowery, useless language about all the wonderful things they're doing for conservation.
USD 1,400,000
Granted, I don't buy it. They were underestimating to make us feel better about it, surely.
And, surprise surprise, world tiger populations remain at an all time low of 3,200 at the highest estimation. Woohoo. That's one tiger for approximately every 2,117,261 people.
1 tiger: 2,117,261 people
Sorry, I'm enjoying pointing this out a little too much. But yeah, just some food for thought.
Maybe if we divide each tiger into 2,117,261 little bits all our problems would be solved. No more tigers to 'harass' everyone, and we all get to try our hand at this amazing chinese medicine stuff. All 0.000000000004 grams of it!

P.S. Note the sarcasm while reading that last little bit.

The Importance of Data

:D Need I say more?

Good Stuff!

In other news: The BBC crew has rediscovered a population of tigers in Bhutan, at an elevation of over 4000 meters (13,000 feet)! http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8998000/8998042.stm  This is good news, even if no exact numbers are known; there is evidence that these tigers are breeding. Also good news for tigers– the finding of these tigers is helping with Panthera’s ‘The Tiger Corridor Initiative’.

            And: THE KINGPIN HAS BEEN CAUGHT AGAIN!! He was caught coming from Thailand, through Penang and KL and onto Jakarta, with 95 boa constrictors in his luggage. Who keeps almost a hundred snakes in their bags and think that airport security won’t notice? Kingpin has been arrested – and has done jail time -  in the US before under animal trafficking charges, among other things.

            The Kingpin is the world’s most notorious wildlife dealer. More on this bumface here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/asian-wildlife/christy-text

…This is revealing yet another problem within the fight to stop the illegal wildlife trade – corruption! But who’s surprised, really?

But yes, a good day for wildlife overall! J

The Idea is Born

I’m not sure where this idea came from, but it’s stuck. I’ve known that tigers have been in a critical condition for a long time now, but I didn’t realize just how bad it was. There are a total of around 3200 tigers left in the wild, worldwide. That’s approximately one tiger to every 1,875,000 people. Half of this population is in India, and only one third are breeding females. We could be losing tigers, one of the most well known animals worldwide, completely within my lifetime. They have been mercilessly attacked by people, facing habitat encroachment, limited prey and poaching for their skin, meat and bones. It’s not their time yet, that I’m sure of. That’s why I’m doing this. Together we can make a difference – this doesn’t have to be the last year of the tiger.