One Friday evening, I was feeling bored, so I resorted to my usual fix – the internet. I was scrolling and scrolling and happened upon a picture of a Caspian tiger, with the caption explaining its extinction. I was saddened, especially after seeing the majestic nature of tigers while on safari. This led me down a rabbit hole of research about the current state of the global tiger population. I immediately decided I had to do something to make sure that even more people knew what I had just learned. So, I put pen to paper and came up with this comic. Text and illustrations by Shiraz Aga.
Do you ever think about tigers?
Maybe sometimes you do.
Maybe you went on safari and saw
their bewitching eyes, looking back at you.
Do you ever think the world’s too crowded?
I don’t think tigers do.
And if there were only 4,500 of you left in the world
I think you wouldn’t too.
Could you imagine if one of your subspecies went extinct?
That happened to the Caspian tiger.
And still tigers from their homes, we evict.
Could you imagine if your life depended on somebody you couldn’t talk to?
Your species needs saving from one that can’t understand you.
People all across the globe are relentlessly pouring over mountains of research just to prove your whole species is worth saving.
People all across the globe don’t seem to care about your vitality to the earth’s ecosystem instead, from jeeps, they just stare.
And when tigers think about humans and I am very sure they do.
They’ll think about how we’re killing their planet and their families too.
When tigers think about humans, who once worshipped them as gods they’d think about how our planet is in ruins since this path of anthropocentrism we trod.
Do you ever think about tigers?
Because when you do, how saving them saves the world is not what you’re thinking of, I can tell you.
Shiraz Aga is a 14 year old avid reader who loves theatre, art, fashion, and philosophy.
