Uni’s quest to save the tiger

Federation University has joined an international campaign to save an endangered tiger species.

The university’s academics and PhD student Babu Bhattarai have launched a research project and crowd funding campaign to preserve the Nepalese tiger population.

Gippsland campus Associate Professor Wendy Wright said Nepal had committed to double the number of tigers in its national parks by 2022 as part of its international conservation obligations.

“Increased tiger numbers are likely to exacerbate human-tiger conflict in the agricultural areas immediately surrounding the parks,” Associate Professor Wright said.

“One of our students, Babu Bhattarai, is on leave from the Nepalese Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to do his PhD at FedUni. His project is focussed on how to manage this challenge.”

FedUni is hoping to raise $17,500 to fund the research.

The crowd funding campaign began on Friday to coincide with International Tiger Day.

For more information visit

www.federation.edu.au/fost/wildresearch

To donate, visit chuffed.org/project/nepal-tigers