COTW: Tiger Comeback in India

India's Prime Minister made an announcement Monday that is good news for tiger admirers like US Person. Mr. Modi said India's tiger population rose from 2226 to 2967 in 2018. India is home to about 70% of Earth's remaining tigers. [chart] The copuntry conducts a census of its tigers every four years, an arduous task that involves looking over 193,000 square miles of remaining habitat.  He said the latest figure is something about which every Indian should be happy and represents a major conservation success.

Between 1875 and 1925 about 80,000 tigers met their death at the hands of man. By 1960 tigers were close to the edge of extinction in the wild. A ban on hunting and establishment of a system of reserves has aided the big cats recovery. Even "problem" cats enjoy a degree of protection from the government under a strict conservation law enacted in 1972.  By 2006, tiger populations began to grow.  Now, overcrowding and loss of habitat are the major threats to tigers in the wild.  Human-tiger conflict is also growing.  Tigers breed only in a small part of the available habitat. Overcrowded tigers sometimes venture into human territory in search of food and mates. 

According to one prominent tiger conservationist, Ullas Karanth, if all of India's available tiger habitat in state owed forest reserves were brought under protection, and prey species allowed to flourish, India could support about 10-15 thousand tigers.  That is a density of only 5 tigers per 100 sq.km; some parks already have densities of 10-15 tigers.  India does have bush meat consumption in rural areas that is depressing prey species such as deer, pig and antelope but according to Karanth it is not as intense as what is occurring in southeast Asia.  

a tiger cub checks out a camera trap

Human development pressure is also rising.  The Modi administration has an agenda for rapid economic growth and is driving highway right of ways through tiger reserves, say Karanth, instead of adopting mitigating measures.  Tiger reserves currently occupy only 4-5% of the land area.  Karanth says,"the aim [of wildlife conservation] is to protect nature in as intact a manner as possible, not create a Disneyland with artificial manipulation of habitat."  In Karanth's lifetime India's human population has quadrupled and the daily wage increased from 3 to 300 rupees.  India is a living example that you can have both tigers and prosperity.