Een eeuw geleden leefden er nog 8 ondersoorten van de tijger, waarschijnlijk 100.000 individuen zwierven door heel Azië en delen van Europa. Vandaag leven er nog 5 ondersoorten, waarvan er 1 waarschijnlijk alweer uitgestorven is en de andere 4 als kritiek bestempeld staan. Gevangen tussen de steden en dorpen van de mens in geisoleerde delen van Azië leven er nu nog ruim geschat 5000 tijgers.

En niet alleen habitat verlies is een gevaar voor deze geweldige dieren, ook stropers hebben een zeer groot aandeel in het verdwijnen van de tijger. Hun prachtige vacht, botten en de ingewanden zijn gewild voor chinese medicijnen, kleding en decoratie.

Wil je ook een bijdrage leveren aan het behoud van deze magnifieke dieren, steun dan Utopia voor en tijdens Utopia 8.

What do wolves mean to you?

 A scary story? An evil creature? An animal to be shot and killed whenever man feels like it?

 Or

 A wonder of nature. An animal with more than 10,000 signs and signals, making the wolf a highly intelligent animal with its own ‘language’. A creature with a beautiful nightly song that has a strong sense of family and dignity.

Why is the wolf a symbol, next to the tiger, for Utopia 8?

Utopia 8 is the last Utopia and just like the wolf, Utopia has always been the ‘lone ranger’. The Dutch scifi con that has been braving and surviving the frontier. The lone wolf signifies the scifi hero, or better yet, the only con of this type in The Netherlands. Strong and independent, but struggling for its survival in hostile territory.

The wolf as a symbol of the wilderness is a part of our heritage as man. The grandness of nature that has become perverted by mankind who needed a boogey’man’ or better said wolves to scare children in fairytales and more. It has had a lasting, devastating effect on wolves. The last wolf was shot in The Netherlands over a hundred years ago. Many wolves who live today are shot for fun or just because they are wolves and that makes them ‘evil’.

Utopia believes that the wolf should be saved. First and foremost in that country where so many of our favourite TV shows and films come from: the United States of America.

A couple of things that happen to American wolves today:

* Arial gunning in Alaska. So-called sportsmen and women fly around and shoot to maim and kill wolves in the wild for fun. Sometimes they just follow the wolves in their high-powered vehicles until the wolf is so exhausted, and so afraid, that it cannot run anymore. The hunter can get up close this way to kill the wolf more ‘pleasurably’. All of this so there will be more Caribou for mankind to ‘hunt’, again for fun.

* The wolf as an ‘evil’ animal does not help. Many farmers blame wolves, and kill them, for losing live stock. While in reality only one out 1,000 deaths among livestock is caused by a wolf. Wolf’s image needs to be changed.

* The US want to remove the wolf from the endangered species list so it can exterminate the wolf once more.

* the Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced its proposal to kill up to 75 percent of the wolves within the Clearwater National Forest's Lolo district so the Elk population could grow for human ‘sports’ hunters.

* Wyoming wants the federal government to kill 16 of its 23 wolf packs and plans to allow wolves to be shot on sight in most of the state.

* Idaho plans to kill 45 of its 60 packs once federal protections are removed.

We ask our visitors to donate money at Utopia 8 so we can support the campaign to save wolves in the US. Another option for you would be to adopt a wolf yourself or, if you cannot support us financially, visit one of the wolf websites and help sign petitions and send letters of support.

 We hope Utopia’s legacy will be one of the wolf. The lone wolf, howling in the night against the background scenery of the unimaginable amazing Rocky Mountains. The lone wolf is worthy of saving. We hope you think so too.

 Find more information on www.savewolves.org or www.defendersofwildlife.org