What a wonderful news came in this morning, amid the radioactivity from Japan and the war for freedom in Libya - India's tiger population has actually risen in the past 4 years. In 2006, the population was 1,411, and it was this number that was widely circulated in the media and dozens of ad campaigns/corporate CSR campaigns focused on this number to drive home the point that we must do something about it.
Well, that number is from 2006, when it was 1,411. Now, according to the latest Tiger Census released by...the news article doesnt say....the population in 2010 was 1,706, a rise of 395, or a rise of 28%. While the growth is a really positive sign, because in the past four years, India's thirst for space and resources has only picked up, and India's population only risen, it is still only under 2,000, and for a country where there were thousands of tigers in its jungles, my only wish is that we do not start slacking now. It will be very easy for all the stakeholders involved, and most stereotypically for the government, to take a pause, believe that the job is done, and stop in their efforts completely.
However, it is far from so. In fact, this number should only energize the stakeholders involved because now they know that whatever they are doing is working. This means that they must stay the course and not falter. I had the good fortune of meeting a scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India on a train journey from Dehradun to New Delhi, and it was exciting to listen to him about some of the projects they were busy in. He was talking to somebody on the phone about some colleague of his who was out there trying to capture a tiger, I think she was code-named T-6, in some jungle in central India, and a few days later, I read about the same tiger in the news, including the scientist's name! Quite exciting really, when you know a little more than what the rest of the public knows.
In fact, the Wildlife Institute of India, based in Dehradun, is at the forefront of tiger conservation and research. In fact, this great institute is at the forefront of wildlife conservation in India in general. I am sure all have heard of the Project Tiger. It is this body that is monitoring the tiger population across the country. On monday, March 28, that is today, this number was released by the Minister of Environment, the Governmint of india, during the International Tiger Conference, being hosted in New Delhi.
Saving the tiger is not just a mission in India, but the world over. There is a Global Tiger Recovery Programme which nations are planning to implement across the globe, and which aims to double the cat's population by 2022. This conference in New Delhi is a follow-up to the conference in Russia, and being organized by an inter-governmental body called the Global Tiger Forum. Even the World Bank has a program called the Global Tiger Initiative.
Despite the tiger population going up, it is easy for all to see that the situation is getting worse by the day, with shrinking forests, rising population and corporates and other entities increasingly venturing into previously untouched forest lands for mining and other activities. According to this news story in the Hindustan Times,
As per the government's own study tiger reserves in India cannot hold more than 1,000 to 1,200 tigers and forest have witnessed a degradation in the last two decades.
The core tiger area has shrunk to 31,207 sq kilometers in from over one lakh sq kms in 1970s, when Project Tiger was launched. Ramesh has admitted that India cannot increase its forest cover.
Other experts such as Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India poaching treat and fall in prey population in tiger habitats is a reason for concern.
Human animal conflict will only rise in the future, as people rise, and thus rises their need for space and resources. More often than not, you hear of a leopard straying into a village, only to be beaten to death by those people. One only needs to read this sad news and wonder if it will only get worse from here.
A mob of about 300-400 villagers poured petrol on a caged leopard and burnt it alive on the outskirts of the Corbett National Park here, even as wildlife wardens and some policemen stood by helplessly, an official said.
Chandola said, ‘Even though there were about 35 wildlife officials and four policemen, they were overpowered by a mob of 300-400 people who would not let the officials go anywhere close to the burning animal that kept wailing and roaring inside the cage until he met his end.’
gruesome, gruesome. Unfortunately for the animals that inhabit our national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, they do not know where their territory ends and the territory of the humans begins. Unfortunately still, a few of them cross this threshold every few months, for lack of food, or fear, they attack humans - injure or kill them, and in response, are sent to their sad ends by God's greatest creation.
Well, that number is from 2006, when it was 1,411. Now, according to the latest Tiger Census released by...the news article doesnt say....the population in 2010 was 1,706, a rise of 395, or a rise of 28%. While the growth is a really positive sign, because in the past four years, India's thirst for space and resources has only picked up, and India's population only risen, it is still only under 2,000, and for a country where there were thousands of tigers in its jungles, my only wish is that we do not start slacking now. It will be very easy for all the stakeholders involved, and most stereotypically for the government, to take a pause, believe that the job is done, and stop in their efforts completely.
However, it is far from so. In fact, this number should only energize the stakeholders involved because now they know that whatever they are doing is working. This means that they must stay the course and not falter. I had the good fortune of meeting a scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India on a train journey from Dehradun to New Delhi, and it was exciting to listen to him about some of the projects they were busy in. He was talking to somebody on the phone about some colleague of his who was out there trying to capture a tiger, I think she was code-named T-6, in some jungle in central India, and a few days later, I read about the same tiger in the news, including the scientist's name! Quite exciting really, when you know a little more than what the rest of the public knows.
In fact, the Wildlife Institute of India, based in Dehradun, is at the forefront of tiger conservation and research. In fact, this great institute is at the forefront of wildlife conservation in India in general. I am sure all have heard of the Project Tiger. It is this body that is monitoring the tiger population across the country. On monday, March 28, that is today, this number was released by the Minister of Environment, the Governmint of india, during the International Tiger Conference, being hosted in New Delhi.
Saving the tiger is not just a mission in India, but the world over. There is a Global Tiger Recovery Programme which nations are planning to implement across the globe, and which aims to double the cat's population by 2022. This conference in New Delhi is a follow-up to the conference in Russia, and being organized by an inter-governmental body called the Global Tiger Forum. Even the World Bank has a program called the Global Tiger Initiative.
Despite the tiger population going up, it is easy for all to see that the situation is getting worse by the day, with shrinking forests, rising population and corporates and other entities increasingly venturing into previously untouched forest lands for mining and other activities. According to this news story in the Hindustan Times,
As per the government's own study tiger reserves in India cannot hold more than 1,000 to 1,200 tigers and forest have witnessed a degradation in the last two decades.
The core tiger area has shrunk to 31,207 sq kilometers in from over one lakh sq kms in 1970s, when Project Tiger was launched. Ramesh has admitted that India cannot increase its forest cover.
Other experts such as Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India poaching treat and fall in prey population in tiger habitats is a reason for concern.
Human animal conflict will only rise in the future, as people rise, and thus rises their need for space and resources. More often than not, you hear of a leopard straying into a village, only to be beaten to death by those people. One only needs to read this sad news and wonder if it will only get worse from here.
A mob of about 300-400 villagers poured petrol on a caged leopard and burnt it alive on the outskirts of the Corbett National Park here, even as wildlife wardens and some policemen stood by helplessly, an official said.
Chandola said, ‘Even though there were about 35 wildlife officials and four policemen, they were overpowered by a mob of 300-400 people who would not let the officials go anywhere close to the burning animal that kept wailing and roaring inside the cage until he met his end.’
gruesome, gruesome. Unfortunately for the animals that inhabit our national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, they do not know where their territory ends and the territory of the humans begins. Unfortunately still, a few of them cross this threshold every few months, for lack of food, or fear, they attack humans - injure or kill them, and in response, are sent to their sad ends by God's greatest creation.
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