Saving Space for Tigers on a Crowding Planet Tigers, the biggest of the great cats, are having a tough time finding space as the growth spurt in human numbers and appetites in Asia presses in on their last wild havens. Alan Rabinowitz, a biologist who has been studying and working to save tigers and other wild cat species for decades (see him in the field in the video above), recently helped run a Bangkok meeting of scientists, law enforcement officials and conservationists developing new tactics for boosting tigers' prospects in the face of relentless poaching pressure driven by the booming demand for tiger skins and products in China and parts of Southeast Asia. Here's a "Your Dot" contribution from Rabinowitz, who heads Panthera, which -- together with the Wildlife Conservation Society -- has been running a project called Tigers Forever, focused on doubling tiger populations from 2006 to 2016 in critical spots. The Bangkok meeting of the Tigers Forever initiative assessed progress and problems: Two years ago, during the International Forum for Tiger Conservation in St. Petersburg, unattended by Panthera [and covered here], grand promises including a 'new' $330 million dollar pledge for tiger conservation were made by international NGOs, governments, political leaders, celebrities and others (much of which had already been designated for tiger projects). Today, as suspected, few of these resources have reached or impacted conservation projects, and tiger populations are still hemorrhaging.... Focusing heavily on law enforcement, measurement and monitoring, this year's 6th Tigers Forever meeting has produced tremendous results from open, harsh and insightful discussions about our successes and failures. In Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, where I conducted the first field research on Indochinese tigers and other big cats in the 1990s, our partners at the Wildlife Conservation Society have found that building stronger, local informant networks and ramping up unpredictable, frontline enforcement patrols in vulnerable areas has significantly increased early detection and arrests for tiger poaching. I covered one particularly interesting arrest involving a poacher's cell phone photographs. These efforts are helping to grow tiger populations and we're seeing an expansion of the tigers' use of habitat in the region. We're seeing similar, encouraging results in other Tigers Forever project sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, and India.... In Northeast India's Namdapha Tiger Reserve, long considered an 'empty forest' due to widespread poaching, Tigers Forever camera trap surveys carried out with Aaranyak and regional partners have also revealed the first ever photos of a tiger, left, along with new record photos of over 30 mammal species. Panthera's local partner in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society, has also worked with the Government to establish tiger reserve status for Kawaal Wildlife Sanctuary. In India's Western Ghats, Panthera is working with Karnataka state officials and the Nature Conservation Foundation to reduce habitat fragmentation of tiger reserves and institute enhanced social security and welfare measures for forest guards. Read and download the full piece as a standalone document here. Here's a useful fact sheet on tigers' status from Panthera: Troubling Tiger Facts from Panthera from Andrew Revkin