A group of young entrepreneurs in the city have come together to raise funds to protect tigers and create awareness about the need for conservation of the national animal.
Towards this purpose, they launched a non-governmental organisation - Wild Tiger Foundation - on Wednesday.
July 29 is observed annually as the International Tiger Day, following the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010, to give worldwide attention to the conservation of tigers.
The foundation will have K. Ullas Karanth, a conservation zoologist, as the mentor.
Others in the NGO include Gautom Menon, an entrepreneur, Suprej Venkat, a software businessman, Srihari Srinivasan, a realtor and Rajdeep Swaminathan, advertiser and educationist.
According to Mr. Swaminathan, the foundation will supplement the existing efforts by raising funds for conservation in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and Wayanad as well.
The funds will primarily be used to mitigate the man-animal conflict by compensating farmers who lose livestock to animal attacks, equipping Forest Department personnel and conducting awareness programmes in educational institutions.
