Tackling of tiger poaching has paid off, says official

The Hindu, January 21, 2015
NEW DELHI

The tiger population had increased in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Additional Director and head of the National Tiger Conservation Authority Rajesh Gopal told journalists on Tuesday.

Y.V. Jhala, one of the principal investigators of the report, said this was only a summary and a detailed report would be ready by March-end. Assessment was in progress in the Simlipal and Satpuda tiger reserves.

The population had increased at the rate of six per cent per annum in India from 2006 while the world lost 97 per cent tigers in the last 50 years in 13 countries, Dr. Jhala said. The main reasons for this increase were effective tackling of poaching, and the positive attitude of the wildlife services.

“We were in for a huge surprise as we didn’t expect the numbers to be above 1,800 or 1,900,” said Dr. Jhala. While 1,540 tigers were actually photographed, the rest were estimated based on this. However, for long term survival, the movement of tigers was essential and corridors between forests would be the next conservation goal, he added. The priority should now change to landscape scale management, he added.