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Harshvardhan
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Tiger : India's National Animal
Tiger is charismatic animal. Tiger is India’s national animal
and indicates health of forests. Tiger is important for historical
and emotional reasons. Tiger is symbol of culture, religion, power
and history. However the number of tigers has declined drastically
over last century.
There are several reasons for declining number of tigers
1. Poaching - Illegal killing of tigers
2. Lack of protection
3. Low prey density
4. Poaching of prey species
5. Encroachment of humans in tiger habitats
6. Human Tiger Conflict
7. Lack of Accountability
8. Lack of Political Support
Challenges
1. The challenges in protecting tigers are different from the
ones at launch of Project Tiger in 1973. Large tracts of tiger
habitat had to be managed earlier and protected land was made
available in1973 under Project Tiger and this was successful in
protecting tigers.
2. Chinese had lost tigers to Traditional Chinese Medicine in
1980s and looked for tigers and India was a choice.
3. So from 1990s large scale poaching began in India and India
could not adapt to increased demand for Tigers from Traditional
Chinese Medicine.
4. Traditional Chinese Medicine is thus responsible for recent
tiger decline in India despite tiger protection efforts by Government
5. There is human tiger conflict where tigers and humans are adversaries
since tigers move to villages and kill people and live stocks
and hence humans kill tigers to protect themselves and their live
stocks.
Why
Save Tigers?
Tiger is symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem.
By conserving and saving tigers the entire wilderness ecosystem
is conserved. In nature, barring human beings and their domesticates,
rest of the ecosystem is wild. Hence conserving wilderness is
important and crucial to maintain the life support system. So
saving tiger amounts to saving the ecosystem which is crucial
for man's own survival.
Project Tiger
As per the recommendations of a special task-force of
the Indian Board of wild_marinelife, Project Tiger was launched
in 1973 with the following objectives:
To ensure maintenance of the available population of tigers in
India for scientific, economic, aesthetic, cultural and ecological
value.
To preserve, for all times, the areas of such biological importance
as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment
of the people.
Starting with nine reserves in 1973-74, the number has grown to
29 in 2006. A total area of 38,620 km2 corresponding to 1.17 per
cent of the total geographical area of the country is covered
by Project Tiger.
Forest Cover Change in Tiger Reserves
Forest Survey of India analyzed the forest cover of all the 28
Tiger Reserves (TRs) and in their outer surroundings (10 km strip),
using remote sensing and GIS. Forest cover estimates based on
satellite data of IRS-IC/ID (LISS III) of the years 1997, 2000
and 2002 has been used in the study. The change in the forest
cover was analyzed for the period 1997-2002. It was found that
between 1997 and 2002, five TRs have shown an increase in forest
cover, 11 TRs have shown decrease, and 12 TRs have shown no change.
Major losses in forest cover have occurred in Nameri, Buxa, Manas,
Indravati and Dampa TRs mainly due to socioeconomic reasons and
natural disasters.
Forest cover in the outer surroundings has increased in two TRs,
decreased in 21 TRs and has not changed in five TRs. The total
forest cover inside the TRs and their outer surroundings has increased
by 94 km2 and 124 km2 respectively. The detailed report of the
study may be obtained from FSI or from the National Tiger Conservation
Authority.
Tiger Task Force
Report
About Govt Dept
About
Scheme
Official
directory
Organisation
Project Tiger
Past,
Present & Future
India
Eco Dev Project
International
Efforts
Government
Initiatives
Tigers and We
Key
threatening processes
How
can you help
Tiger reserves
Year
of creation
Tigers
in reserves
Tigers
in India
Funds
Legal & Statutory
wild_marinelife
Protection Act
National
wild_marinelife action plan
wild_marinelife
cons strategy
Ecology & Research
Nature,
habitat, habits
Tiger
behaviour
Hunting
Techniques
Size
Variations
Crime Against Tiger
Poaching
cases
Report
A Crime
Tiger Reserves
Bandipur Tiger
Reserve
Bandhavgarh
Tiger Reserve
Bhadra Tiger
Reserve
Buxa Tiger Reserve
Corbett Tiger
Reserve
Dampa Tiger Reserve
Dudhwa Tiger
Reserve
Indrawati
Tiger Reserve
Kanha Tiger Reserve
Kalakad Mundanthurai
Tiger Reserve
Manas Tiger Reserve
Melghat Tiger
Reserve
Nagarjunsagar
Tiger Reserve
Namdapha Tiger
Reserve
Palamau Tiger
Reserve
Panna Tiger Reserve
Pench Madhya
Pradesh Tiger Reserve
Pench Maharashtra
Tiger Reserve
Periyar Tiger Reserve
Ranthambore
Tiger Reserve
Sariska Tiger
Reserve
Similipal
Tiger Reserve
Sunderbans
Tiger Reserve
Tadoba Tiger
Reserve
Valmiki Tiger
Reserve Leopard
deaths in 2010
Mortality 23
Poaching & Seizures 33
Total 56
Leopard deaths in 2009
Mortality 129
Poaching & Seizures 161
Total 290
138 leopards killed in 1994
143 leopards killed in 1995
110 leopards killed in 1996
145 leopards killed in 1997
69 leopards killed in 1998
135 leopards killed in 1999
1,278 leopards killed in 2000
167 leopards killed in 2001
89 leopards killed in 2002
148 leopards killed in 2003
123 leopards killed in 2004
199 leopards killed in 2005
163 leopards killed in 2006
126 leopards killed in 2007
160 leopards killed in 2008
161 leopards killed in 2009
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