Conference in Russia Tries to Save the World's Tigers
Conservationists and world leaders of 13 countries have gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia to discuss the future of tigers. India, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and other Asian countries are among those taking part in the conference. Their goal is to work out a plan that will double the world’s tiger population by 2022, the next year of the tiger , according to the Chinese calendar.
A century ago over 100,000 tigers lived in the wildernesses of the world; today only 3,300 are left. The primary aim of the conference is to raise money to save tigers’ living areas and protect them from poachers . In the last ten years over 1,000 animals have been killed in Asia alone. Poachers are especially active in India and China. A British conservationist group has found out that more and more tiger parts are being sold in Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia. Traders sell skins, bones, teeth of the animals.
Russia is one country that has increased its tiger population. In 1950 the country only had about 100 tigers, today the tiger population is over 500. Siberian tigers are among those that are most endangered . About 100 are killed every year by poachers who smuggle the parts to China. There they are used in Chinese medicine.
Destruction of natural habitats , especially forests make tigers flee to villages and other inhabited areas where they get killed. According to experts, breeding places, most of which are in India, must also be protected .
The World Wildlife Fund says tigers could become extinct by 2022 if nothing happens to save them. Countries and environmentalist groups have promised to donate $ 330 million to rescue the world’s tiger from extinction . The United States has also contributed money, although it has no tiger population of its own.
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Words
- according to = as said by …
- aim = goal
- although = while
- breed = animals have babies
- century = a hundred years
- conservationist = someone who works hard to protect animals
- contribute = give, donate
- destruction = the act of damaging something completely
- donate = give money
- double = to become twice as much
- endangered = in danger
- environmentalist = someone who is worried about the environment and wants to protect it
- especially = above all
- extinct = die out
- flee = escape
- gather = get together
- goal = aim; what someone plans to do
- habitat = natural home of a plant or animal
- increase = to get bigger
- inhabited = a place where people live
- poacher = a person who illegally hunts wild animals and sells their parts
- population = the number of animals
- primary = main, most important
- promise = say that you will do something
- protect = guard, save, defend
- raise = collect money
- rescue = save
- smuggle = to bring into a country illegally
- trader = a person who buys and sells things
- wilderness = a large area of land that has never been settled