An initiative of The Tiger Foundation and Tiger Trust

Even with the tiger on the brink of extinction, poachers regularly operate with impunity across much of India, and particularly in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The overwhelming majority of those that are charged with poaching and wildlife trade offenses in India slip away through the cracks of an ineffective and overburdened legal system, often because of technicalities and in the face of incontrovertible evidence of their crimes. This has affected the morale of conservation and law enforcement officers, who see the dangerous and demanding task of capturing and prosecuting these criminals as a futile exercise. The Tiger Foundation and its Indian partner, Tiger Trust, propose to create a highly professional and well-funded legal assistance team to assist prosecutors in district courts to efficiently prosecute tiger poaching cases. We will also offer a series of generous awards and rewards to those who are instrumental in the successful prosecution of tiger poachers. We believe that this unprecedented program will provide a powerful incentive to those who are responsible for the enforcement of the Indian Wildlife Act and a forbidding disincentive to those who would consider killing a tiger.