Leading global messaging app Viber has teamed up with WWF to raise awareness and stress the importance of tiger conservation.
Ahead of World Animal Day on 4 October Viber look to champion wild tigers, from communities, businesses to government leaders. Viber have created tiger-themed stickers so users can be a part of this global movement through sending stickers in their everyday conversations on the platform. Upon downloading, the stickers lead to a tiger-themed chatbot where users can test their knowledge of the species, challenge friends to do the same and win digital prizes! Users can also stay up-to-date with what WWF is working on by following the WWF Viber Community.
1. These stickers double up as a fundraising tool
Global Tiger Day was created in 2010 at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia when all 13 tiger range countries committed to the TX2 goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022. As a special part of the campaign, every single one of the stickers come with a small clickable paw-shaped green button that will lead users to a fundraising page that supports WWF’s wild tiger conservation directly. Viber is also matching every dollar raised through their app (up to 10,000 USD)*! *through October 18, 2019
2. Bringing people closer to wild tigers
The stickers are inspired by the behaviour of wild tigers, but are also expressive and easy to use in daily conversations, bringing the tigers top of the mind awareness from users. Additionally, they will be able to learn more about tigers behaviour from the chatbot, which will give users the option to receive weekly updates with interesting information about these beautiful animals. Did you know that tiger activity patterns vary by season and prey activity but are most active at dawn and dusk? They are sometimes active at night too — this is more common if there is a human disturbance nearby.
3. Points to the problem of tiger farms subtly
Tiger farms are tiger breeding centres for commercial purposes – which often include entertainment attractions like the Tiger Temple. These are very different from legitimate zoos and captive breeding facilities established with a clear conservation purpose. They are likely to be involved in the illegal wildlife trade given their incredibly high operation costs. The tigers in tiger farms have lost their wild instincts and cannot be released back to their natural environment. Unfortunately, they are on the rise in Asia. The fate of these captive tigers is expressed by the following on Viber tiger sticker.
4. Moving away from tiger selfies in petting zoos
…to support camera trap monitoring of tigers in the wild! As part of our ongoing tiger conservation efforts, we employ the use of camera traps equipped with infrared sensors. Wildlife movement will trigger these cameras to record an image or video. These candid shots provide critical data about wild tigers to our landscape teams.
You can now download these exclusive tiger stickers for free on Viber for a limited period of time.
