Tiger Population fall down to 1,411 in India: Govt

NI Wire

New Delhi

Wed, 13 Feb 2008: 

Announcing at a press conference on Tuesday in the capital the Government has disclosed the numbers of big cats left in India, which are now 1,411 with a variation of 17. 43 percent. The latest figure shows that the number of tigers has declined to half of the last official tiger census.

The Member Secretaryf National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Dr.

Rajesh Gopal while presenting the report on Tiger Census said that the number of tigers have declined due to various factors as poaching being the prime one followed by loss of quality habitat, and due to its prey.

However, Gopal also expressed hope for improvement in the present situation with ample steps, as the government is committed for. He said that the total tiger population varies with variation of 17.43 per cent – the lower limit being 1165 and the upper to 1657.

Considering the last major survey in 2002 when the total country level census was marked as 3,500 the present number is a worrying factor for the authority of tiger conservation in India. The government hence has planned for opening of eight new tiger reserves to strengthen the population of tigers.

Gopal also mentioned that an area of around 31111 Sq.Km. has been identified for the purposed tiger habitats according to the provisions of the wildlife (Protection Act).

This time apart from using pugmark or footprints as the basic method of counting tigers some new methods such as GIS technology were adopted in terms of a refinement in the earlier census in collaboration with the National Tiger Conservation Authority and all 17 Tiger Reserve States.

“Based on a pilot study done in the Satpura Landscape of Madhya Pradesh, the methodology was mainstreamed as a country-level process, which was endorsed by the Tiger Task Force and was financially supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests ”, Dr. Rajesh Gopal added.

The Member Secretary also informed that though the habitats of Tiger Sanctuary has not gone any kind of adverse changes but there is decline in the outside areas. He said now mostly tigers are spotted in all forest areas of 17 States, Madhya Pradesh has been sheltering the highest number of 300, but there is no significant development found yet outside the tiger reserve.