BIG CATS FACE EXTINCTION

The tigers in Nepal may be extinct in the wild by 1999 unless India and the other range states declare an open war on poachers and illegal traders and throw in all the resources required into the battle, says Peter Jackson, a cat specialist. Deforestation, loss of habitat and a demand for tiger parts for Chinese traditional medicine have led to a 95 per cent decline in tiger population in the last hundred years, bringing the number of 1,00,000 tigers at the beginning of the 20th century down to 4,800- 7,300.