RFID to save dwindling tiger population

Filed in archive Implementation on June 8, 2009

© Tambako the Jaguar

Across the world tiger population has been dwindling and I fear that before the end of the century they would be gone forever if we are not able to save them from the brink of extinction. At several places including China and India pug marks are used to take a count of these animals and to a certain extent this is a system which is error prone.

To counter this problem China has taken the first step to adopt RFID technology to keep a watch on its dwindling tiger population. Specially designed microchips have been injected in tigers in King Palace Zoo in Henan province which makes available tiger information with electronic ID card.

The specially designed RFID microchip gives access to necessary information regarding tiger such as age, gender, name, species, blood type, birth place and DNA. All this information can be read by scanner close to the animal.

This will make it easier to track tigers so that we can save them from being included in the list of extinct animals. I feel India and other Asian countries having tiger population should also adopt the technology for its tiger population which has already dwindled to half since 2001-02. Now the time has come when we need to leave archaic methods like pug mark counting and replace it with latest technology to protect a beautiful animal called tiger.