Land Rover joins fight to save India’s tigers

Land Rover has extended its support to the Born Free Foundation’s work in India by delivering a brand-new Land Rover Freelander to the Satpuda Foundation, one of Born Free’s partner organisations in Central India, to carry out critical conservation work in the country’s central tiger reserves. The Freelander features the distinctive Born Free white paw prints, and will be a vital asset in the field and a highly visible ambassador for conservation work in the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Programme area, which is the largest viable block of tiger habitat in India.

Tigers have become a highly endangered species due to poaching and loss of their natural habitat. In fact, their numbers have now plummeted to just 3,500 worldwide and the splendid feline is fighting for survival.

Mark Cameron, brand experience director at Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Land Rover’s on-going partnership with the Born Free Foundation has already helped support some of the Foundation’s most important projects in the UK, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. With this addition of the Freelander to the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Programme, I believe together we will now make a real contribution to the conservation of the endangered tiger in India. The Freelander’s all-terrain capability will enable conservation workers to reach areas which would otherwise be inaccessible and ultimately protect the tigers throughout the Satpuda landscape.”

Will Travers OBE, president of the Born Free Foundation, added: “In one form or another, Land Rover has been part of Born Free’s DNA for nearly seven decades, all the way back to the days when George and Joy Adamson used a Land Rover to help return Elsa the lioness to freedom, a story that inspired Born Free the book, and the film. Today the link is even stronger with Born Free- branded Land Rovers already deployed in wildlife hotspots in South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. Now India will benefit from this strategic alliance.”

Professor Claudio Sillero, the Born Free Foundation’s head of conservation, who leads the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Programme, added: “We are delighted to be able to assist the work of the Satpuda Foundation through the use of this specialist vehicle which will make a real difference to their ability to negotiate the rugged terrain of the Satpuda forests.”