NEW DELHI: Tiger population in the country has risen to 2,226 in 2014, a 30 per cent increase since the last count in 2010, the latest census report said on Tuesday, much to the delight of wildlife enthusiasts.
The third round of independent Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves has shown an overall improvement in the score of 43 tiger reserves from 65 per cent in 2010-11 to 69 per cent in 2014. Statewise, Karnataka tops the list with 406 tigers followed by Uttarakhand with 340 and Madhya Pradesh with 306. In 2006, Madhya Pradesh had topped the list but slipped to third position in 2014. In 2006, the tiger population was 1,411 and in 2010 it was 1,706.
With the numbers up, India has offered to donate cubs to the global community. Countries such as Cambodia and Laos have informally approached India seeking help in this regard.
The increase of 520 tigers, compared to 2010, came as a big surprise to officials and scientists involved in the estimation efforts. This is a preliminary report and a detailed report of the tiger population in all 47 tiger reserves in the country is expected by March. “These numbers are unexpected and is a surprise to us as we were hoping that the numbers would be between 1,800 and 1,900. There is not much of extrapolation this time as a large number of camera trappings was used.
We have unique identification pictures of 1,540 tigers and 1,900 camera estimates. About 300 have been based on modelling where camera could not be used,” said Y V Jhala, one of the principal investigators. Jhala added that the final report won’t have many changes as far as tiger numbers are concerned and the difference may only be 15-20, adding that any future increase would depend on how development is balanced with conservation as there is a need to build more reserves and increase prey base. “The biggest challenge now is how to protect the tigers that venture out of reserves and so we need corridors. I am not saying we create protected areas, but we need to have a relook at the infrastructure in such areas,” said Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger.
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