In the early 1900s there were approximately 100,000 tigers in Asia, including 40,000 in India. Today there are believed to be fewer than 6,000 wild tigers worldwide and a recent nationwide survey in India suggests a population as low as 1,500-2,000. There are now more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild.

David Shepherd and DSWF has supported tiger conservation in India since Project Tiger was launched by Indira Gandhi in 1973.

Since 1990 DSWF has made grants to Ranthambhore of over £200,000, latterly through local NGO, the Prakratik Society. In addition to direct action to save one of India's most famous tiger populations, one aim of the project was to alleviate the pressure on the Park through support of essential health, education and outreach projects in surrounding communities.

To that end, DSWF helped to construct a state of the art school for 200 children; the build a modern 80 bed hospital; pay for a new ambulance service radio network; establish a mobile clinic providing free health care and family planning for surrounding villagers; create alternative sustainable farming techniques, such as tree planting and milk production schemes; provide biogas plants to reduce reliance on firewood collected from the park; and establish a mobile education unit conducting village talks and running nature clubs specialising in environmental education.

When Project Tiger was launched in the early '70s, Ranthambhore National Park in the State of Rajastan, was home to just 15 tigers surrounded by a human population of about 60,000. This ground breaking conservation work managed - against all the odds - to treble tiger numbers to 45.

Many of these long-term projects are now complete. The hospital and school, for example, are almost self funding and the education awareness campaign is well established in villages around Ranthambhore. More importantly, DSWF has successfully acted as a catalyst by paving the way for other organisations to continue with this work in and around Ranthambhore. Despite our best efforts, though, poaching has been unrelenting and, following another spate of attacks, by January 2006 just 15 tigers survived surrounded by a growing human population of up to 300,000 people.

The Foundation has long been active in many other areas of tiger conservation throughout Asia, for example in India's Kaziranga (Assam) and Sunderbans (West Bengal) National Parks as well as in Cambodia, Myanmar and Russia. DSWF also funds educational awareness action to stop the illegal consumption of tiger parts. Money is desperately needed for all these projects. We will also be ready to tackle invading gangs of poachers, as necessary, through our long running Rapid Action Project - which provides emergency funding for such scenarios.

DSWF is proud of everything we have achieved in Ranthambhore but after significant review the Trustees have taken the decision to redirect our limited funds to other projects, where our research indicates that the money we give will go much further, and to where tigers have a better chance of long term survival