LAST AND FINAL CALL
Yes! We can still save the tiger, but will we? Bittu Sahgal and Jennifer Scarlott flag an issue that should be at the top of the agenda of the Indian Prime Minister and every other head of state, indeed the Security Council of the United Nations itself – the survival of the natural world, and, therefore, of Homo sapiens.

PHOTOFEATURE
India Naturally, authored by Bittu Sahgal and Anish Andheria, is the latest large-format book from the Sanctuary stable. It marries visuals and texts to present an India that is vibrant and awe-inspiringly beautiful.

INDIA’S CRITICAL TIGER HABITATS
The areas described below harbour some of our country’s most beautiful and vital natural landscapes. But, if India is unable to offer habitat contiguity and security from poachers to tigers in these areas over the next five years, we will be remembered as the generation that supervised the demise of Panthera tigris. Protecting tigers must be at the top of our national agenda, explain Lakshmy Raman and Parth Gadhia, not for the sake of the animal alone, but because the ecological and economic security of millions of Indians depends on our ability to restore health to the Indian subcontinent. The following is a quick sketch of the tiger landscapes of India. These are, by no means, the only valuable or ‘critical’ habitats under threat, but securing their future would probably be the best first step to ecological harmony in the subcontinent.

PROTECTING THE TIGER
Somesh Goyal, IPS, a wildlife protector and photographer, who was awarded the annual West Bengal Conservation Award in 2006 for his efforts in the state, writes that protecting and securing tiger habitats is no longer a negotiable option.

PANNA’S TIGERS
How safe are Panna’s tigers? Dr. H.S. Pabla, Additional PCCF (Wildlife) M.P., is convinced that the tiger density in the reserve is healthy while Dr. Raghu Chundawat and Joanna Van Gruisen, wildlife researchers with nearly 10 years of tiger research experience in Panna, strongly disagree. Several tiger reserves are embroiled in similar conflicts of opinion. Sanctuary believes that annual on-going independent assessments of the tiger status of different habitats in India is vital, as much to restore faith in the system as to protect its credibility from further erosion.