The age old tradition of hunting tigers to establish human valor over the fiercely free spirited animals have been stopped, at least partially, with strict laws but still a lot needs to be done for conserving tigers. The number of tigers in India has come down to a meager 1411 or probably even less. There was a time when the jungles were full of the fiery creatures but human activities and scarcity of trees have made it difficult for the tigers to survive. Many tiger reserve forests have been established and talks are going on for more of them.
The prime reason why we need to conserve tigers is that they are an integral part of the forest ecosystem and they stand at the top of the jungle food chain. If they become extinct the balance in nature will be disrupted and badly injured. The survival of the different species of an ecosystem depends on each member of that ecosystem. One can argue that there are other predators in the jungle like leopards and wild dogs who can maintain the balance of the ecosystem but that is not possible. Tigers are far more capable and play a distinct role in the forest ecosystem that no other species can do.
Tigers are protectors of the forest. Due to their presence common people fear to enter or inhabit the forests and stay away from them. Already human activities have destroyed so many forests that now we need the rest of the forest for saving the world from extinction. Forests serve a very crucial function which is bringing down rains and supplying us with drinking water. The water cycle is maintained by the trees in the forest. Without tigers trees will become scarcer and annual rain fall will decrease in large areas. Saving tigers is one of the ways in which we can save our habitat- the earth.
