The event will occur one day after the launch of a new global save-the-tiger campaign called 'Leave me alone,' a joint initiative of Sanctuary Asia and Save the Tiger, the Facebook tiger conservation social media platform with 2.7 million supporters with active support from the Wildlife and Forest Department of Government of Maharashtra. These organizations have come together in an education, awareness-building, and activist campaign to save India's iconic national animal. They chose July 29 to launch the 'Leave me alone' campaign because it is the third annual 'Global Tiger Day' marking the international importance of the species.

The tiger - India's national animal, a globally beloved species, and an animal of enormous ecological significance for countless other species as well as Homo sapiens - is disappearing from India because of rampant poaching and widespread habitat destruction. There are an estimated 1,800 wild tigers in India today, down from approximately 100,000 in 1900.

In the presence of his cabinet collegues, officials of the Maharashtra Forest Department, members of Sanctuary Asia and Save the Tiger, Chavan and Dr Kadam will announce that poaching will not be tolerated in the state. Chavan will also outline policy steps taken to curb the global rise in the illegal wildlife trade, which is tightly linked to the international trade in narcotics and weapons. This has been identified by both central and state governments as a key reason for the increased poaching pressure on the tiger in Maharashtra and other states.

Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary, will outline the crucial role the public must play in protecting the tiger and winning the war against poaching and uncontrolled destruction of habitat. The 'Leave me alone' campaign aims to mobilize massive national and global public support for the tiger, and will make clear to India's decision-makers the central role the tiger plays in protecting forests, and how tiger forests in turn provide India with clean water and a stable climate.