Wild Tiger's mission is to conserve India's Bengal tigers and their habitats.
Coexistence is the way forward to preserve forests and larger landscapes as habitat for India's endangered wildlife, while providing people with products that are vital to their everyday needs such as food, fiber, and fuel.
Our work is dedicated to three main areas:
Read Wild Tiger's story below.
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Wild Tiger's story starts with a hunter.
My great-grandfather was a 'shikari' — a hunter.
If his hunt was successful, he was paraded through the nearby village with garlands around his neck and a lifeless tiger as a trophy. My great-grandfather’s relationship with the animals he hunted changed when he realized tiger populations were crashing. Wildlife conservation, rather than hunting, became his focus. Stories about my great-grandfather are significant because my wildlife conservation pursuits have led me to work in the same Indian forests where he hunted.
The first time I went inside an Indian forest was on a hunt, not with a gun, but with a camera trap, which is a camera triggered by motion to capture photos remotely. The focus of this ‘hunt’ was to identify individual tigers from photos and estimate the tiger population size. I also spoke with people living in and around these forests to understand their interactions with the local wildlife and forest. My first experience with the forests and people in central India inspired me to start Wild Tiger (a 501c3 registered non-profit) in 2015. Today, I continue to work in India and follow in my family's footsteps by dedicating my career to conservation.
My goal is to create a future where coexistence is possible by understanding the contemporary relationship that people in India have with tigers, wildlife, and the forest surrounding them. I complete ecological and social research within India as a PhD student within Columbia University's Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology Department. Wild Tiger's research occurs within human-dominated landscapes. Work is conducted within protected areas, unprotected forests that act as habitat corridors between protected areas, communal and plantation forest and agricultural land.
In addition to research, community engagement within India and the U.S. is an integral part of Wild Tiger's conservation efforts. Films and educational programming are hosted in local communities where research is conducted in India. Wild Tiger also engages communities in the United States. There aren't any wild tigers in the U.S. but there are more than three times the number of tigers in the U.S. (10,000+) than there are in India (2,000+). Policies and funding mechanisms in the U.S. play a crucial role in successful tiger conservation in India.
My professional pursuits and personal passions drive me to carry out Wild Tiger's mission. I hope you will learn more about Wild Tiger on the website and join us in our cause to save wild tigers and their habitats. I've probably done a few things that you've missed out on since I last updated the home page. Follow our blog to stay up-to-date!
Sincerely, Sarika Khanwilkar
Founder and Executive Director, Wild Tiger
The first time I went inside an Indian forest was on a hunt, not with a gun, but with a camera trap, which is a camera triggered by motion to capture photos remotely. The focus of this ‘hunt’ was to identify individual tigers from photos and estimate the tiger population size. I also spoke with people living in and around these forests to understand their interactions with the local wildlife and forest. My first experience with the forests and people in central India inspired me to start Wild Tiger (a 501c3 registered non-profit) in 2015. Today, I continue to work in India and follow in my family's footsteps by dedicating my career to conservation.
My goal is to create a future where coexistence is possible by understanding the contemporary relationship that people in India have with tigers, wildlife, and the forest surrounding them. I complete ecological and social research within India as a PhD student within Columbia University's Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology Department. Wild Tiger's research occurs within human-dominated landscapes. Work is conducted within protected areas, unprotected forests that act as habitat corridors between protected areas, communal and plantation forest and agricultural land.
In addition to research, community engagement within India and the U.S. is an integral part of Wild Tiger's conservation efforts. Films and educational programming are hosted in local communities where research is conducted in India. Wild Tiger also engages communities in the United States. There aren't any wild tigers in the U.S. but there are more than three times the number of tigers in the U.S. (10,000+) than there are in India (2,000+). Policies and funding mechanisms in the U.S. play a crucial role in successful tiger conservation in India.
My professional pursuits and personal passions drive me to carry out Wild Tiger's mission. I hope you will learn more about Wild Tiger on the website and join us in our cause to save wild tigers and their habitats. I've probably done a few things that you've missed out on since I last updated the home page. Follow our blog to stay up-to-date!
Sincerely, Sarika Khanwilkar
Founder and Executive Director, Wild Tiger
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