Home News General India’s wild tigers show 30% increase in latest census

India’s wild tigers show 30% increase in latest census

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

NEW DELHI: Good news for tiger lovers. The population of wild tiger in India has increased from 1,706 in 2011 to 2,226 in 2014.

The new tiger census, released by Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar, shows that India — which has 70% of the world tiger population — has registered an increase of 30 per cent in country’s tiger population in the past three years.

“While the tiger population is falling in the world, it is rising in India. It is a great news”, said Javadekar.

Referring to the census exercise, he said, “Never before has such an exercise been carried out on such a massive scale where we have unique photographs of 80% of India’s tigers.”

The tiger census is carried out every three years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in the country.

In 2011 the tiger census estimated tiger numbers at 1,706 (i.e. ranging between a minimum of 1,571 to a maximum of 1,875). The results included figures from 17 tiger range states.

The latest tiger census figures show that Karnataka has the highest number of tigers in the age group of 1.5 years and more. The state has 408 tigers in that age group followed by 340 in Uttarakhand, 308 in Madhya Pradesh, 229 in Tamil Nadu, 190 in Maharashtra, 167 in Assam, 136 in Kerala and 117 in Uttar Pradesh.

“This is very positive news for wild tigers in India,” says TigerTime campaign manager Vicky Flynn. “Whether the true number has increased or that census techniques are more sophisticated cannot take away from the great news that tigers continue to survive in an increasingly overcrowded human landscape.”

Keeping tigers wild and free is what drives the TigerTime campaign. Please support our work however you can – signup to www.bantigertrade.com or donate online at www.tigertime.info
Source: Times of India
Drag Read