Home to over 75 per cent of the world’s last surviving tigers, India is all set to release its latest count of the striped big cat on Sunday. The release coincides with the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger — One of the biggest wildlife conservation missions launched in 1973 to save the endangered carnivore.
From just 1,411 tigers estimated to be in the wild in the year 2006, India has been able to double its population reaching up to 2,967 in 2018, as per the government estimate. Wildlife experts and conservationists expect a further uptick in the overall numbers in the latest survey.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the summary report of All India Tiger Estimation (5th cycle) from Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Sunday morning, which assesses the status of tigers, co-predators and prey across 18 tiger states.
It will also set the stage for the launch of International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) — a global pact announced by the prime minister to curb poaching and illegal wildlife trade across Asia. The alliance will focus on protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah, with membership of the range countries harbouring these species.
ARE THE NUMBERS ENOUGH?
While a steady rise in tiger count has been a success story for wildlife conservation, it has also triggered concerns over inbreeding. Since the movement of these big cats is limited to individual tiger reserves, lack of genetic diversity threatens their long-term survival, say conservationists.
“The animals must always be on the move. That is the only way we can maintain their genetic flow. So, the numbers alone aren’t enough. It is important to look at how well we can maintain the connectivity of these habitats. We cannot have islands of conservation. The integrity of the ecosystems is crucial,” Anup Nayak, former member-secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority, tells News18.
India has also been shuttling its tigers between reserves as existing ones achieve their carrying capacity and conflict with humans becomes a concern. The animals are now being re-introduced in other reserves where they have become locally extinct.
Apart from natural mortality, poaching also remains a serious challenge. As per the government data, India lost as many as 329 tigers from 2019 to 2021, with the highest mortality (127 deaths) in 2021. Tiger states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for 50 per cent of these deaths, followed by Karnataka. While most deaths were attributed to natural causes, poaching was also listed as a cause.
The animals have also been found poisoned in several instances, with simultaneous reports of human deaths, livestock damage in villages surrounding the forests.
HOW INDIA COUNTS ITS TIGERS
The government takes stock of the tiger population every four years. The humungous exercise involves forest officials and scientists doing a survey across the country looking for signs of the wild cat. The assessment, which began in 2006, is currently in its fifth cycle with the results set to be announced on Sunday.
The estimates are made by collecting field data on tiger sign intensity, prey abundance, human disturbance a s well as habitat characteristics in various forest beats followed by estimates based on modern camera trap images.
From over 50,000 tigers at a point in time, just 3,000 remain in the wild as per the 2018 census. Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526 in the last survey , closely followed by Karnataka at 524 and Uttarakhand with 442 tigers. More than 7 0 per cent of these cats are inside the 53 tiger reserves spread over 75,796 sq km area.
“As the number rises, we also need to focus on involving local communities at every step, or the conservation efforts will not sustain. This can only happen if they also get the benefit of new livelihood opportunities like eco-tourism,” says Dr Dharmendra Khandal, conservation biologist with Ranthambore-based NGO Tiger Watch.
With the growth rate of tigers in India currently at around 6 per cent a year, ADG (Forests) SP Yadav — who heads the centrally sponsored Project Tiger — says the goal now is to sustain this viable population based on scientifically calculated carrying capacity of habitats.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment