The Indian government will announce the results of a new tiger census reports The Independent. The news is bleak indeed for the long term survival of perhaps the most beautiful animal on our planet. The census will show that the tiger population in India may be as low as 1300 individuals. At the beginning of this century there were 100,000 tigers in India. The story of how the big cat reached such dire straits is a tawdry one of government incompetence, senseless superstition, fear, uncontrolled greed, and wanton destruction of the natural world. The most recent census in 2001-02 put the figure at 3600, but its accuracy was questioned by wildlife experts. The new census, using more robust methods, will show that in Madhya Pradesh state there is a lost of 61% from the previous count. In Madharashtra state there is a lost of 57%. Previously tigers have been found outside tiger reserves, now there are none living outside protected areas. In the Sariska Tiger Reserve of Rajasthan poachers have wiped out the resident tigers. That fact came as something of a surprise because responsible officials tried to hide the embarrassment by lying. One noted expert and author Valmik Thapar says it will take a "miracle" to save the remaining big cats because the size of the decimated population is not biologically viable in the wild.
Habitat destruction and poaching are the two biggest causes of the precipitous decline. The black market in tiger parts--used in traditional Chinese medicine--is worth millions of dollars. China outlawed the trade in 1993, but recently government officials asked to lift the ban at the CITIES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) convention in the The Hague. Business interests behind the request argue that lifting the ban would allow the regulation of the trade and help eliminate poaching of wild cats. The WWF calls lifting the ban a "death sentence" for tigers. Three tiger subspecies are already extinct and a fourth functionally extinct.
The number of captive cats now exceeds the number of wild ones and the new study shows that there is 40% less habitat for them to roam in India which has always been the tigers' main home. The bad news is even more troubling because progress had been made in rescuing the tiger from extinction. In the 1970's the tiger population was estimated to be only 1800. The government launched an aggressive conservation campaign that succeeded increasing their number to 3750 within two decades, but backsliding from previous efforts has taken its toll on tigers. An example of the lack of commitment to preserving the species and the necessary wild habitat is the Indian government's proposal to build a tidal energy facility in the middle of the Sundarbans, the nation's largest tiger reserve. The large mangrove swamp on the border of India and Bangladesh may hold as many as 280 tigers that have a lethal reputation. Because the region is almost impenetrable to man, it has become a haven for wildlife. Conservationists say the energy plan will only generate four megawatts of power while causing large areas of the mangrove swamp to be washed into the Bay of Bengal or filled from increased sedimentation. Three of the more than 50 islands on the Indian side have already disappeared due to natural erosion. Clearly if the tiger is too survive outside of zoos, drastic steps must be taken by the Indian government to protect the remaining tigers from poachers and repopulate secured reserves through a breeding, translocation and public education program. Reserves need to be larger and connected by wild corridors that will allow now isolated populations to re-establish territories and interbreed. Of course accomplishing this goal midst some of the densest human populations on earth will not be an easy task.