International Tiger Day 2020: It is observed on 29 July to raise awareness about the decline population of wild tigers and encourage the work of conservation of tiger. Let us read in detail about International Tiger Day, its history, significance, and some facts about the tiger. International Tiger Day has been held on the 29th July every year since 2010 when it was first created at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. The day is additionally referred to as Global Tiger Day. As we know that the population of tiger across the globe dropped sharply since the beginning of the 20th century but the good news is that now their number is on the rise. We can't deny the fact that tigers are the largest species of the cat family and also one of the most iconic animals on the planet. About a century ago, there may have been over 100,000 tigers that roam on the planet. Wild tiger populations have declined by around 95% since the beginning of the 20th century. There’s now estimated to be around 3,900 wild tigers. A lot of people are not aware of these threats, and so spreading the knowledge can help to make sure that we all do our bit to ensure that the tiger’s future is a fruitful one. There will be a lot of videos, infographics, and interesting pieces of content going around that you can share with others.

International Tiger Day was established in 2010 at Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia to raise awareness about the decline of wild tiger numbers, leaving them in the brink of extinction and to encourage the work of Tiger conservation. In the Summit, a declaration was made that Governments of tiger populated countries had vowed to double the tiger population by 2020.

Several events every year are organised by animal organisations like WWF, IFAW, and the Smithsonian Institute.

Reasons behind the declining population of Tigers

- Poaching and illegal trade: For traditional Chinese medicines, tigers face the problem of poaching as there is a demand for every part of the body of the tiger. In illegal wildlife trades, they keep high prices.

- Habitat loss: Nowadays and with the increasing population forest are becoming less in numbers. Clearing of forests for several reasons like agriculture, industries, etc. made a loss of around 93% of the natural habitats of tigers.

- Climate Change: With the rise of sea level due to climate change lead to wiping out of Sundarbans one of the habitats of Royal Bengal Tigers.

- Several diseases are also the key factor. Several animals die and there is no way to ascertain the cause of their death. Certain diseases spread epidemic like Feline Panleucopania, tuberculosis, etc.

- The study of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) says that the tiger population in the park shown a loss of genetic diversity over the years.

- Degradation of Habitats: Big cats want secure and disturbance-free habitat to survive but due to several developmental activities in the landscape of the protected areas (PAs) pose a big threat to tigers.

- Man-animal conflict also affects the population of big cats.

- Lack of protection infrastructure.

- Increasing tourism day by day is also one of the factors for the decline in tiger numbers.

References:
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/international-tiger-day/?timezone_offset=nan

https://www.jagranjosh.com/articles/rajkot-nagarik-sahakari-bank-recruitment-2020-1595515706-1?itm_source=Oneplus3&itm_medium=CRE&itm_campaign=1

https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/international-tiger-day-2020/