NEW DELHI — In the early 1970s, things looked grim for
India’s tigers. A wild population estimated in the tens of thousands at the
time of independence in 1947 had shrunk to around 1,800. The tigers’ decline
also held worrying implications for the nation’s environment because the apex
predator is part of a complex but fragile ecosystem. Something had to be done.
اضافة اعلان
On Sunday, as India celebrated the 50th anniversary of an
intensive conservation effort known as Project Tiger, there was success to
report: The tiger population had nearly doubled in the decades since, to 3,167.
The results of the 2022 tiger census, the release of which
was delayed because of COVID, showed an increase of about 200 since the last
census, in 2018. Although the growth was much less than the previous four-year
cycle, it was still steady.
“India is the largest tiger range country in the world,”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in releasing the census after a 19km safari
ride in the forests of the southern state of Karnataka. “These are the results
of our conservation culture and people’s involvement.”
Conservation analysts and forest officials say the collapse
in tiger numbers in the middle of the 20th century was caused mostly by a rapid
expansion of trophy hunting, a practice formerly restricted to the colonial
elite. While tiger numbers dwindled drastically, cheetahs disappeared entirely
from India.
“The time between independence and 1972 was one of the worst
periods for wildlife in India. Tigers were one of the main targets,” said Yadvendradev
Jhala, a former dean at Wildlife Institute of India who studied the tigers for
nearly two decades. “If Project Tiger had not happened, arguably India may have
lost its tigers by now.”
Steps the government took to reverse the decline included
introducing anti-poaching measures; relocating villages to expand tiger
reserves and buffer areas; and improving those reserves.
When the efforts began, there were nine tiger reserves
covering an area of more than 5,405 square miles. Over five decades, that expanded
to 53 reserves in 18 states, consisting of 28,958 square miles — about 2.3
percent of India’s total area.
Tigers require space to roam in search of food. An adult
male tiger needs a minimum of 27 to 39 square miles.
At the time of independence, India had a human population of
about 340 million. That left room for wildlife, with tiger numbers at around
40,000 then. Today, with India’s population nearing 1.4 billion, wildlife
experts estimate that India can accommodate from 4,000 to 10,000 tigers.
The rise in both populations puts pressure on managing
human-tiger conflict. Such conflict has at times spread panic and fear,
stopping villagers from even going out to their fields.
In 2018, in the western state of Maharashtra, a tigress
named T1 was shot dead by a professional hunter after several months of
pursuit. T1, local authorities said, had fatally mauled about a dozen people in
the state’s Yavatmal district.
And despite careful government watch, tigers still die from
causes like poaching, poisoning and electrocution. From 2017 to 2021, India
lost 547 tigers, including 154 to causes termed “unnatural.” Eighty-eight of
the deaths in that period were attributed to poaching.
But the nation now feels rich enough in tigers to consider
sending some abroad. Indian authorities are in discussion with Cambodia to help
revive the population there, which was wiped out by poaching and hunting.
In a related effort, India has received 20 cheetahs from
African countries over the past year.
Although one of the imported cheetahs died because of a
medical condition about six months after arrival, another gave birth to four
cubs at a national park in central India.
“For decades, cheetahs had disappeared from India. We
brought magnificent big cats from Namibia and South Africa,” Modi said Sunday.
“Few days back in Kuno National Park, four beautiful cubs were born. After 75
years, cheetahs were born on Indian soil. That is a very auspicious start.”
Read more Odd and Bizarre
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
