India's top court bans tourism in tiger parks

[July 24, 2012]  NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's top court has banned tourism in tiger reserve forests across the country in an effort to save the endangered big cat.

Lawyer Wasim Kadri says the Supreme Court has also announced stiff penalties on Indian states that have not created buffer zones around tiger habitats.

The court on Tuesday fined eight states for failing to declare buffer zones around tiger reserve forests and gave officials three weeks to act on its orders.

India is home to more than half of the world's estimated 3,200 tigers, with most of them living in wildlife reserves set up since the 1970s.

Hundreds of hotels and shops have sprung up around tiger reserves to cater to the droves of tourists who visit the forests, posing a threat to the big cat.

[Associated Press]

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