Let’s Save The Tiger

My first non-fiction book was a book for young children. It is about the tiger.

The tiger has always fascinated me. Not only is its physical appearance and beauty awe-inspiring but its deep throaty growl evokes chills and fear. Its golden tawny skin with dark stripes and its beautiful eyes can mesmerize one.

My friend and I had a close encounter with a tiger, no, not at the zoo or safari park. We had gone looking for a picnic spot in a small village. I had been there once with my classmates and the waterfall and clear shallow pool was still fairly unknown to visitors, except for the few local villagers. However, I had not been there for a year and I thought I could find my way there.

We walked further and further away from the village and soon the undergrowth became thicker. There weren’t any other people and we couldn’t hear any sound of the waterfall. Suddenly we froze in our track. A deep throated roar broke the silence.

My friend and I looked at each other. Oh my God! Surely not a tiger???

There it was again! Indeed it was a tiger!! I remembered reading somewhere that animals can sense fear in humans and they would certainly follow that scent. I willed myself not to feel frightened and began repeating Hail Marys as my friend half dragged me back along where we had come from. All the while the roar was there. The tiger was following us, of that I was certain. My heart was almost bursting as we hurried back towards where we had left the car.

When it was in sight, we still dared not run. I’m sure that if we did, the tiger would have pounced on us. Relieved and terrified, my friend gunned the engine and we squealed away on the dirt road. We didn’t stop until we reached Kuala Lumpur.

Our fruitless outing had almost ended in disaster. This experience made me more aware of the tiger and I then decided to write a book about the tiger facing extinction because of human activities. Thus, “Let’s Save The Tiger” was created. It has beautiful photographs of tigers and I learned that there are white tigers too. I wanted the parents to read the book to their children and let them know that we must protect our wild life.

The tiger is now a protected species and although their numbers have dwindled throughout the world in places where they are still found, studies made by World Wildlife Fund have found that there has been a slight increase in numbers in some countries.