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Experts worried over fall in tiger population

JAIPUR: Conservationists have warned against the present status of tigers in India, terming their population now as the “lowest ever” in the past hundred years. Their number, when Project Tiger was launched some 34 years back, was slightly less than 1,800 while at present it is anywhere between 1,350 and 1,500. This is against an estimated 25,000 tigers in the country at the turn of the previous century, they pointed out. Yet the fact remains that India accounts for 65 per cent of the world’s tigers in the wild!

The health of tiger habitats and the mountains in the difficult times of wanton commercialisation and growing biotic pressure came up for discussion during a seminar on wildlife and environment protection held here this past Sunday to mark the Wildlife Week ahead (October 1 to 7). The Siddharth Singh Natural History Trust organised the seminar at which Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namonarain Meena was the chief guest.

“We are below the 1973 figure when the Project Tiger was initiated,” said Divyabhanu Sinh Chawda, who took over as the president of WWF India recently. “The decline has been more rapid since 1991, after the country opened up for globalisation,” he pointed out. The 600 wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks in the country are under severe pressure and the new Tribal Act would only worsen the situation, he warned.

“India is a mega diversity country and we are much better than others in wildlife protection,” said Mr. Meena even as he confessed that sustainable development was still a far cry and there was a serious threat to Indian tigers from outside. “There is no demand for tiger parts in India. It is all exported and we have to crack down on this smuggler-poacher chain.”

Mr. Meena disclosed that the country would soon have a wildlife crime control bureau on the lines of the Narcotics Control Bureau.

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