According to wildlife experts there will be no wild tigers left in India by the end of the century. Despite conservation efforts their numbers are dwindling alarmingly. This documentary investigating the huge upsurge of the poaching of wild tigers was shown earlier this year but tonight is updated with information about what has happened since the initial broadcast. it combines stunning footage of tigers with a disturbing report into their plight. It examines the work of Project Tiger, a great conservation success story for nearly 20 years but now apparently losing its grip, and discovers how poachers are slaughtering enormous numbers of tigers to supply the vast Chinese medicine market.

Since the programme was transmitted, there have been heartening moves to safeguard the tiger. Among them is the setting up of a Global Tiger Forum, the largest ever strategy in conservation in which countries will pool expertise and resources to work together for a common aim. There have also been some important arrests and a seizure of tiger products by the Traffic India organisation. But whether it will be enough to save the tiger population remains to be seen - and if the tiger is to disappear, what hope can there be for the other giant symbols of the conservation movement, such as the panda and the rhino?

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