Is There Hope For The Tiger Yet?

While the Tiger a population is on the rise, sustaining their numbers will be an uphill battle

- Rahul Noronha

Amid the stories of forests lost to rampant mining, rivers clogging, large dams eating into prime wildlife habitat and average temperatures rising came the unexpected and heartening news that India had recorded its highest ever increase in tiger numbers since the adoption of the new census methodology in 2006.

According to the findings of the fourth cycle of the ‘All India Tiger Estimation, 2018’, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Global Tiger Day on July 29, the tiger population in the country increased from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 (estimated range of 2,603- 3,346) in 2018, marking a jump of 33 per cent over the last cycle. “The story that began with ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has reached ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’, but it should not end there. That will not be acceptable,” said PM Modi.

Nine years ago, at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit 2010, 13 tiger range countries, including India, had pledged to a global tiger recovery programme, agreeing to double tiger numbers in their respective countries by 2022. At the time, India’s tiger count, according to the 2006 census, was at 1,411. The country has clearly made good on that promise and with four years to spare.

With 526 tigers, Madhya Pradesh has reclaimed the ‘tiger state’ tag that it lost to Karnataka in 2010. The southern state is now a close second with 524 tigers. The survey also found 25,709 sq km worth of new area occupied by tigers in 2018.