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Conservationists called the 13-nation agreement an important step in protecting the wild cats, whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades as human encroachment has eliminated more than nine-tenths of their habitat. Experts say there are fewer than 3,500 wild tigers today, compared to an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. Hailing the agreement, Michael Baltzer, head of the WWF Tiger Initiative, said "There never has been a high-level government commitment to take forward tiger conservation."

"The number of tigers in India's wild has gone up by 20%, according to the latest tiger census, which has surveyed the whole of India for the first time. The census puts the population of the big cat at 1,706. There were 1,411 tigers at the last count in 2007."

11 rare and endangered Siberian Tigers starved to death while confined to 'cold, cramped metal cages' at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in China's North-East. This treatment raises questions about China's conservation efforts, suggesting that "zoos and wildlife parts may be deliberately breeding more animals than they can afford, hoping to sell off the carcasses onto a black market where tiger parts fetch a high price for use in traditional medicines and liquor."

"The Indonesian government has announced plans to sell tigers as pets for £67,000 a pair in what it claims is a move to protect the critically endangered species."

"It is an irony not lost on the Chinese that the Year of the Tiger has not been good for the big cats. Back-to-back tragedies have spurred calls for greater legal protections for animals."