14 DAY TRIAL // Tigers are already an endangered species, both because some people use their body parts in traditional medicine practices, and because their natural habitats have been largely destroyed by the expansion of human society.
Still, on-going conservation projects aim at helping this species make a recovery, and there is hope that more of these big cats will soon roam the wilderness.
One recent piece of bad news with respect to efforts made to save this species from extinction is brought to us by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a green-oriented organization which now argues that plans to build a new dam in Western Thailand will translate into tigers having a large portion of their hunting grounds flooded.
As we already discussed, tigers can only make a recovery in their headcount if they have sufficient animals around to prey on, which is why conservationists working with said organization saw it fit to ring the alarm and warn that a new dam on the Mae Wong river will pretty much go against whatever benefits past conservation efforts have yielded.
Rungnapa Phoonjampa from WWF Thailand made a case of how, “The Mae Wong and Klong Lan forests are not only critical tiger habitat, they are also home to other threatened species. By protecting the tigers, we really can protect so much more.”
Furthermore, “Years of successful conservation efforts will be washed away if the dam construction goes ahead. The Mae Wong dam must be stopped or we risk losing our tigers and so much more that Thailand loves and reveres.”
This is not the first time when new dam projects foster significant concerns with respect to how their becoming a reality will affect natural habitats in their proximity.
Thus, quite a while back we talked about how a series of dams in the Amazon basin will disturb the natural balance of this region and will affect the fishing activities of indigenous people, and about how damming the Mekong river will have similar negative impacts on local biodiversity.
Although it is true that human society requires ever more energy to stay afloat, perhaps there is a way to satisfy these increasing electricity demands without harming wildlife.