India adds 200 tigers in 4 years: 3167 now, 3/4th of global count.
The 2022 tiger census conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which began in 2018, had deployed camera traps at over 32,500 locations across 20 states, up from around 26,800 in the previous counting exercise. Unlike previous estimates that had zone and state-wise counts, the latest report contains references to camera trapped images from each of the five landscape regions. NTCA member-secretary S T Yadav said the landscape-wise analysis would be published soon. This might be announced in July, coinciding with the International Tiger Day.
Project Tiger’s roar of success resounded through the conservation ecosystem with the latest census data released by PM Narendra Modi showing the country’s big-cat count shooting up by 200 in four years to hit 3,167, constituting 75% of the global tiger population.
The data till 2022 was cited as a “minimum” count, only denoting tigers with photographic proof. “The actual estimation number could be higher,” an NTCA official said. The damper was the growth slowing from 25% in the previous survey to less than 10%.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a 97-nation International Big Cats Alliance that will focus on the protection and conservation of seven big cat species in the wild, namely, the tiger, leopard, jaguar, lion, snow leopard, puma, and cheetah. While India’s tiger population has steadily grown since its flagship conservation programme Project Tiger began 50 years ago, tigers have disappeared in Bali and Java. China’s tigers are likely extinct in the wild, according to reports. India accounts for more than 75% of the world’s wild tiger population and its project to safeguard them has been praised as a success by many. Mr. Modi said wildlife protection is not a one-country issue but a universal one. “The presence of big cats has made a positive impact on the lives and ecology of the local people everywhere.
In 1973, when the ‘Project Tiger’ was launched, the country’s tiger count was 1,827. Fifty years down the line, there are nearly 3,000 tigers — an average annual rise of 1. 34%. Even as the increase does not seem phenomenal, experts say India can ideally hold between 1,500-5,000 more tigers.
