Bachchan roars to $1 million for tigers

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan led a team of Indian entertainers towards generating contributions of over Rs48 million (about $1m or Dh3.67m) during a 12-hour telethon.

Television station NDTV has been running a Save Our Tiger campaign, where Bachchan and industry colleagues Prannoy Roy and Vikram Chandra highlighted the key issues involved in tiger conservation in India.

The country has only about 1,400 tigers left and drastic action is required to halt the extinction process and save the big cats from dangers such as poaching.

Investment banker Hemendra Kothari was the biggest donor, putting in Rs24m, while Bachchan himself donated Rs2.8m, besides auctioning off his Cartier watch and two pairs of designer glasses for Rs845,000, the station said.

"A year back when this campaign started, I felt honoured to be a part of it; and today I can see the efforts over the year bear fruit. The donations from this 12-hour telethon would be of immense help in providing the infrastructure required for consistent operations and activities in tiger conservation," Bachchan said in a press statement.

Other well-known names like Bhaichung Bhutia, Abhishek Bachchan, Nitin Gadkari, Diya Mirza, Manish Malhotra, Soli Sorabjee, Priya Dutt too did their bit.

According to Anish Andheria, director of India’s Wildlife Conservation Trust, the funds raised through the telethon were sufficient to create and deploy 35 rapid response teams (RRTs) and cover all the 38 tiger reserves in the country that are home to 1,411 big cats.
 

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