Personal Experience My Interest in Tigres - 855 Words

My interest in tigers started when I was a young child. As a child, my favorite movie was â€Å"Winnie the Pooh.† My favorite character, Tigger, is a confident tiger who thinks highly of himself. He is extremely energetic, constantly bouncing on his tail. He acts quickly without thinking sometimes, risking his life. As a matter of fact, for my first, second, and third birthdays my parents bought me a Winnie the Pooh theme cake. I wasn’t aware that several species of tigers were endangered until I started researching endangered species. As I was researching tigers, I came across the Sumatran tiger, an endangered tiger found only on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. One threat this tiger is facing is habitat loss due to logging, mainly from the palm oil industry. Another threat is poachers hunting tigers for commercial gain. People sell and trade tiger parts such as skin, bones, teeth, etc. Because these threats are putting the tiger at risk, and in spite of the efforts o f the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program and World Wildlife Fund, the Sumatran tigers are extremely vulnerable and chances of survival are slim. The Sumatran tiger was classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2008 when its population was estimated at fewer than 680 individuals (Vidal). The Sumatran tiger is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving member of a group of tigers from Indonesia that included the now