NEW DELHI (AP) - Saving the world’s remaining tigers will require as much as $500 million a year, but average annual international funding only comes to $5 million, a conservation group said Monday. Most of this was given to non-governmental organizations, while governments of 12 countries with tiger populations were expected to come up with funding themselves, S. C. Dey, secretary-general of Global Tiger Forum, told reporters.

While Russia and India get up to 20 percent of money they spend annually on tiger conservation from international funding, for other countries it was as low as 1 percent, Dey said after the release of action plans for 12 countries with wild tiger populations.

“As the world’s wild tigers have dwindled to as few as 3,000, it is time for a concerted effort to save the big cat from extinction,” a Wildlife Trust of India statement said.

(Via Comcast)