Tiger population increases by 295 in 2010

The population of tigers in the country increased to 1,706 last year from 1,411 in 2006. This is an indication that the government’s thrust on saving the wild cats has begun to show results.

If the number of tigers in the Sunderbans National Park are excluded, the total estimated tiger population stands at 1,636, 225 more than the 2006 count. The 2006 census did not cover the Sunderbans tigers.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who released the All India Tiger Estimation Exercise for 2010, said, “When you compare the like with the like, 1,411 in 2006 increases to 1,636 in 2010 …this figure is welcome news.”

The census, which is carried out every four years, indicates that though occupancy in most of the 39 tiger reserves increased or were stable, occupancy has fallen in reserves in Andhra Pradesh and in parts of Madhya Pradesh.

The exercise was carried out between December 2009 and December 2010 in three phases at a cost of Rs 9.1 crore and involved more than 470,000 forest personnel along with a number of wildlife activists and volunteers.

In the first phase, field data were collected, while the second phase involved analysis of habitat status of tiger forests using satellite data.

In the third phase, camera trapping was the primary method used, where individual tigers were identified from photographs based on their unique stripe patterns.

This information was analysed using a well-established scientific framework. Camera trapping was carried out by teams of wildlife biologists and local forest personnel. More than 45,000 sq km of the country’s forest area which included 39 designated tiger reserves was divided in 29,772 beats or primary patrolling units.

In each beat, the officials had to walk at least 15-20 km every day to collect signs of tiger habitation such as pug marks, scratch marks, their prey signs.