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India’s endangered tigers roar back
Eric Hopton for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
India is home to more than half of the world’s wild tigers, and the survival of this population is crucial to the conservation of the species as a whole. In rare (but welcome) conservation news, officials in New Delhi have announced a 30 percent rise in tiger population over the past four years.
Last year’s census of Indian (Bengal) tigers found there were 2,226 animals living in the wild. This is a drastic increase from the 2010 figure of 1,706. Tiger numbers in India fell to a low point of 1,411 in 2006.
But the population is recovering–albeit slowly. It still remains short of the 2002 census figure of 3,700 Indian tigers–and well below 1947′s population of about 40,000.
Go back even further–to around 1915–and that number jumps to around 100,000.
Preservation efforts
Numbers fell steadily through the century, and it looked as though Indian tigers were heading for extinction–that is, until the 1970s. At that point, India began banning the hunting of tigers and created special reserves/protected areas for them.
Environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, described the rise as a “huge success.” India has been engaged in a long struggle to save endangered tigers from a whole range of threats including poachers, smugglers, and the destruction of their natural habitat. Power projects, road building, and rampant industrialization also have played a part by reducing tiger habitats used for hunting.
A key element to the success, claimed Javadekar, was the greatly improved management processes in India’s 40 plus tiger reserves.
However, one huge problem the government still faces is the often-fatal conflicts between local villagers and tigers. As farmers move into forests and the tigers search for outside sources of food and water, these encounters will become more frequent. The government is working hard to reduce the impact of these confrontations.
Data for the survey was gathered using approximately 9,700 hidden cameras placed in the best-known tiger habitats. These include the northeast state of Assam and western Rajasthan. Almost 250,000 square miles of forest area were surveyed across 18 states.
“We have unique photographs of 80 percent of the tigers in the wild”, said Javadekar.
A group effort
India is not alone in its battle to save tigers. Countries across Asia are taking on the poachers who kill the animals for their body parts, which can fetch high prices in the lucrative traditional Chinese medicine markets.
Paying tribute to the Indian effort, Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO of World Wildlife Fund India, said, “These results confirm that more than half of the world’s tigers are in India, and thus, an up-to-date and precise estimation becomes imperative for assessing the success of future conservation efforts. This demonstrates that species conservation works, especially when it brings together political will, strong science, and dedicated field efforts.”
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113318160/india-tigers-roar-back-012115/
