Opinion Express View on dip in tiger numbers in Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha: A new conservation challenge

Conservationists were jolted in 2006 when the country’s tiger population plummeted to an all-time low of about 1,400. Course corrections in wildlife management have led to the majestic animal staging a remarkable recovery since that crisis. The country’s protected areas have more than 3,600 tigers according to the latest enumeration of the animal in 2023. That Tiger Census also underlined areas of concern. The data revealed a dip in tiger numbers in Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. Now, another national assessment by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has flagged an emerging conservation challenge in the protected areas of these states. It has revealed that the prey that sustains these big cats — chital, sambal and the Indian bison — are declining. A sufficient prey base is not just elemental for the nutritional needs of the big cat, it’s also necessary to obviate human-wildlife conflict. With enough herbivores within the protected areas, the tigers are less likely to stray out in search of alternative sources of food.

A study published in the journal Science earlier this year also joined the dots between tiger population and the animal’s declining prey base. The reserves where tiger populations have come down — Guru Ghasidas, Indravati, and Udanti-Sitanadi in Chhattisgarh, Simlipal and Satkosia in Odisha, and Palamau in Jharkhand — are situated in some of the poorest districts in the country. The study linked poverty with the poaching of ungulates. “These reserves are known to have high incidences of bush meat consumption, often with the use of traps and snares that are usually indiscriminate in killing prey and predators,” the study found and made a strong case for linking “biodiversity recovery” with socioeconomic improvements. It drew a contrast with tiger habitats in proximity to relatively prosperous areas, where people have received the benefits of conservation-related tourism.

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To revive the prey base, the WII and NTCA study recommends on-site breeding of ungulates in enclosures designed to keep predators away. This should, at best, be seen as a short-term measure. Herbivores raised in a protected environment are known to have a weak anti-predatory response. They cannot provide a sustainable prey base for the tiger in the long-run. More critical for the tiger’s recovery is improving the quality of the animal’s habitat. The good news is that some of the areas where the tiger and its prey are on the wane — in Chhattisgarh, for example — still have good-quality forests. Left-wing extremism is also on the decline in these areas. More needs to be done to make people partners in sustainable conservation.