On Tiger Day, Dia Mirza urges all to be part of a solution to save our national animal

International Tiger Day is a global celebration to raise awareness for tiger conservation and is held annually on July 29. Actor-producer Dia Mirza, who is also a champion for nature shared a post to spread awareness about tigers. She has been a vocal advocate for wildlife and the environment for decades. Be it adopting two leopard cubs in 2010, speaking up for snow leopards or leading the movement against single-use plastics to protect marine life, she has tried to shift perceptions and spread awareness about issues that do not get enough attention. 

On the occasion, she took to Instagram and posted some pictures of the tigers clicked by her. Take a look:

“We need to do more than just exchange platitudes about this magnificent and endangered big cat because its habitats continue to shrink and the global tiger population seems to be in perpetual decline. It is heartening that in India, the tiger population has grown but because of human-animal conflict, this success story is at peril. We do not seem to understand that continuous threats to wildlife habitats will undermine any conservation work for tigers,” she said on Tiger’s Day.

Continuing further, she said, “This year’s theme, ‘Their survival is in our hands’ could not be more relevant. It is time to be part of the solution and actually save our national animal and to understand that we cannot save the tiger without saving our diverse forests. Without protecting biodiversity ranging from tigers to termites, butterflies to bears, we cannot, in the end, protect ourselves as a race.” 

In 2013, Dia also worked with the Sanctuary Nature Foundation to spearhead the ‘Leave Me Alone’ campaign to underscore the importance of not intruding into wildlife habitats.  

In compliance with her eco-sensitive ideology, Dia also eschews the practice of giving meaningless gifts and instead plants trees via social organisation Grow-Trees.com. Before concluding she said: “Highways at the expense of trees, settlements within protected zones, and non-inclusive development are all self-defeating in the end. It is time to dial back this greed and not advance it.”