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Burma Expands World's Largest Tiger Reserve

   VOA News 04 August 2010
   An  adult  tiger sets off a camera trap in the Tenasserim mountains of
   southern Burmar near the Thai border (file photo)

Photo: AP

   An  adult  tiger sets off a camera trap in the Tenasserim mountains of
   southern Burmar near the Thai border (file photo)

   Burma  says  it  has expanded the world's largest sanctuary to protect
   endangered tigers.
   The  government  announced  that  the  entire  Hukaung  Valley  in the
   country's  remote northern region will be declared a  Protected Tiger
   Area.   Scientists  believe  several hundred tigers are living in the
   protected area, which covers more than 17,000 square kilometers. Â
   The documents signed Tuesday more than triple the size of the wildlife
   sanctuary, which was created in 2004. Â
   Conservationists  say  Burma's decision is a major step in saving wild
   tigers, one of the world's most endangered species.
   The  number  of  tigers in the wild has plummeted from up to 100,000 a
   century ago to fewer than 3,000 today.
   The remaining tiger populations live in small, isolated groups and are
   constantly threatened by illegal hunting.
   Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein and 16 cabinet ministers flew to the
   Hukaung Valley earlier this year to assess its conservation needs.
   International   groups   have   begun  a  campaign  to  rebuild  tiger
   populations  by  2022  -  the  next  Year  of the Tiger on the Chinese
   calendar.   They   say  tiger  populations  can  make  a  comeback  if
   governments  effectively  address the poaching of the big cats and the
   animals they feed on, as well as the destruction of their habitat.

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