If people are to be partners in efforts to secure the tiger's future, the information and education programs are among the highest priorities. And people must be partners, or these efforts will fail. The National Zoo's new Great Cats exhibit is designed to help foster this support. There are those who believe that the tiger will be extinct in the next few years. I am not among them.
Conservation does work.
Witness the comeback of pumas in the western U.S., of alligators and crocodiles in the southeast, and of peregrine falcons that are flying again right here in the Washington area. Tigers have a substantial reproductive capacity and can bounce back given space and food, given a chance. There are too many people committed to giving tigers that chance for us to fail. For more information about tigers and conservation, visit the Tiger Information Center , the The World Wildlife Fund - US , and the Save the Tiger Fund . John Seidensticker is Curator of Mammals at the National Zoo and Chairman of the Save the Tiger Fund.