Count confirms worst fears: only 1,411 tigers left-60% dip over the last 10 years

Releasing the final figures today after surveying 17 parks, the government refused to see its dark implications. Rajesh Gopal, Member Secretary, Project Tiger said, “the assessment shows that though the tiger has suffered due to direct poaching, loss of quality habitat, and loss of its prey, there is still hope.”

The government has declared eight more new tiger reserves. Gopal said an area of around 31,111 sq km of tiger habitat has been notified/ identified by tiger states as per provisions of the Wildlife (Protection Act).

This time, the census used a new method that combines field surveys and statistical estimation instead of the pugmark method followed earlier. This system uses remote sensing, GIS, in combination with high resolution spatial data based on sign surveys and camera trapping. In the process, the final census monitors tiger population as well as its prey population.

The new census was initiated by the government after The Indian Express investigations revealed that there were no tigers left in the Sariska tiger reserve.

In this census, tiger-occupied forests have been classified into six landscapes, on the premise that within the complex, they are likely to have the same gene pool. The report clearly shows that occupancy of a forest patch by tigers was negatively correlated with human disturbances indices and positively correlated with prey availability.

“For establishing and maintaining high density source populations of tigers, it is essential to set aside inviolate areas devoid of human presence within each landscape,” says the report.

The report suggests that the source population should be connected through buffer zones where human land use conducive to maintaining low tiger populations should be allowed. Locals should be given incentives to protect the tiger.

There are some areas where individual tiger populations have high probability of long term survival by themselves: Nagarhole-Madumalai-Bandipur-Waynad population, Corbett population, Kanha population, and possibly Sunderban and Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong populations.

Tiger populations that exist and can persist in a meta population (part human interference) framework are Rajaji-Corbett, Dudhwa-Katarniaghat-Kishenpur (along with Bardia and Shuklaphanta in Nepal), Satpura-Melghat, Pench-Kanha, Bhadra-Kudremukh, Parambikulum-Indira Gandhi, and KMTR-Periyar.

The landscapes that have potential but are currently in need of conservation inputs are Sirsailam Nagarjun Sagar, Simlipal, Ranthambore-Kuno Palpur, Indravati-Northern Andhra Pradesh, and Bandhavgarh-Sanjay-Palamau.