This International Tiger Day, 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Hima Das honoured at Bannerghatta Biological Park wherein a six-month-old tigress has been named after the athlete.
Bengaluru: Bannerghatta Biological Park has honoured 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Hima Das and named a six-month-old tigress Hima.
Hima- the cub made its first public appearance on July 28 to mark International Tiger Day in the safari area of Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP).
Hima made her appearance along with three other males and five females.
In view of International Tiger Day, BBP organised a series of programmes to understand the endangered species.
Karnataka boasts of the highest tiger population in India, 406, as per the 2014 tiger census.
This is not the first time animals have been named after celebrities.
Earlier, two sloth bears were named after former captain of the Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj, in the Bannerghatta Rescue Centre.
Also read: Tiger state of India: Madhya Pradesh hopeful wild cat numbers have doubled
Many influential personalities have adopted and christened animals in the BBP including Infosys chairperson Sudha Murty and Managing Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise director Ashok Kheny.
July 29 is celebrated as Global Tiger Day or International Tiger Day to raise awareness for tiger conservation every year. It was first created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit.
The International Tiger Day was established to raise awareness about the declining tiger population around the world. A declaration was made that the tiger populated countries had vowed to double the tiger population by 2020.
According to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), there are only 3,900 wild tigers left in the world. About 95% of the world’s tiger population has disappeared since the beginning of the 20th century.
Notably, the tiger range countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Notably, the Bali tiger, the Javan Tiger and the Caspian tiger have all gone extinct in the last 100 years.
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