Tamara

a Tiger

Tamara tiger was born in June, 1992. She and her sister Tanya were confiscated from a man who was trying to sell the tiger cubs from the back of his station wagon at an Orange County, California shopping mall. They spent several uncomfortable days in a local animal shelter before being placed at Shambala that September. Sadly, Tanya was weakened by her experiences and later died, but Tamara has grown and thrived in her new home.

The tiger (panthera tigris) is the largest of the big cats. Bengal tigers (panthera tigris tigris) are smaller than the Siberian tigers. A male stands between 2 and 3 feet tall at the shoulder. They can measure 8 to 9 feet long from head to tip of tail. They can weigh from 400 to 500 pounds. The female Bengal tiger is slightly smaller. The tiger is mostly nocturnal, sleeping throughout the day. Like all subspecies of tigers, the male Bengal is solitary, shunning other males, and the female lives in family units. Bengal tigers are carnivorous, and can live over 20 years in captivity. Unlike the African lion, tigers enjoy the water, preferring to live in close proximity to streams, rivers and lakes.

In the wild, the Bengal tiger is found throughout the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that none are left in Pakistan, and only a small number can be found in Bangladesh. The Bengal tiger's main stronghold is Nepal and the reserves in that area may offer one of the best chances for saving this beautiful predator from extinction. India today has the largest number of tigers, with between 3,300 and 4,700 in the wild.

In 1930 it was belived that there were at least 100,000 of the eight subspecies of tiger in variuos parts of Asia. Probably fewer than 6,000 of these magnificent animals remain in the wild today. In the last two decades alone, the world has seen two subspecies of tigers disappear forever. By the 1950s, tigers living arouind the Caspian Sea were extinct. Populations of tigers that once inhabited the islands of Bali and Java are now extinct. The last Balinese tiger was killed in the 1930s; the last Javan tiger sighting occured in 1972. The South China tiger, with at best 20 to 30 individuals, is nearly extinct in the wild, and the Siberian tigers number only 300 to 400. Much of their habitat has been destoyed by war or by government agricultural programs in the various Asian nations. Poaching is also taking its toll; both for the beautiful striped coats and for a thriving black market in tiger body parts for "medicinal" purposes.

All of us at Shambala would like to join Tamara in thanking you for your kind and generous support.

Would you like to "adopt" Tamara, or one of our other "Wild Ones?"
Check out our exciting "Adopt-a-Wild One" program!