An Experience Unmatched - Snowflakes and Tigers - Anusha Shankar

(posted by Anusha Shankar)

Large, gentle snowflakes drifted down around us, drawing a white curtain down upon our last night in Vladivostok, Russia. The next day, on November 25^th, 2010, Devanshu and I bid farewell to the land of the Amur tiger, having spent eight wonderful days in the company of 26 other international youth representatives. The occasion was a Youth Tiger Forum conducted by WWF, and hosted by the Russian Government, WWF-Russia and the UN. Our objective was to meet and discuss the tiger’s situation in our countries, and come up with a Youth Outreach Plan to involve the youth in tiger conservation efforts. At the end of the Summit, we spoke to the Heads of Government and other representatives of the remaining 13 tiger range countries, and urged them to protect the largest surviving Felid and its habitats.

An Experience Unmatched - From India with Love - Devanshu Sood

(posted by Devanshu Sood) 

Landing in Vladivostok on 18 November, with the flight attendant's comforting words “it’s fine weather outside” when the temperature was -12 degrees Celsius, seemed a blessing after the unexpected experience at Moscow airport due to a ‘technical error’ in my visa. The 8 days I spent in Vladivostok, Russia, along with the 27 delegates from 14 countries, at the International Youth Tiger Summit organized by the Russian Government, in association with the United Nations and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, were truly special.

The Closing of the International Youth Tiger Summit

(Posted by Devanshu Sood)

As we already told you all last night was a very memorable night for all of us as we heard that our video link to the heads of government summit in St. Petersberg was received very well by those assembled at St. Petersberg. A professor who works on large predators at a leading Wildlife Institute in India said that our video link was very evocative, and was probably the best part of their Summit. It brought tears to his eyes to see us of different nations together, in sharp contrast to the politicized bickering which was going on at the Heads of Government Summit.

Today was the day that we all regret and wish that it did not come, that time could have stopped. As today was the day that the summit was to close and we delegates began to go back home. Dannee and Duncan, the delegates of the United Kingdom, who were our roommates (and alarm clocks) were the first ones to leave us.  

Welcome

Welcome!

We have started this blog to promote awareness about tigers and their conservation. We, Devanshu Sood and Anusha Shankar, are WWF’s Youth Tiger Ambassadors, and have been chosen to attend the Youth Tiger Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, from the 18th to the 25th of November, 2010. Following our return from the Summit, we will be working with WWF to help protect the 3200 tigers in the world, especially the 1400 or so remaining in India in the wild (about half the world's wild tiger population).

About the Youth Tiger Summit:

There are 13 countries worldwide which still have tigers in the wild, although the numbers are very low. Without immediate strong action, the next few years will be catastrophic for wild tigers.