Celebrating the international tiger day, a survey on the current status of numbers of Tiger reveled that the number of Royal Bengal tigers in the wild has soared 64 percent to 198 in just four years, stated a government survey released on Monday.
The Bengal tiger (Pantheras tigris tigris) is the most numerous subspecies of tiger, but there are thought to be fewer than 2,500 left in the wild in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Burma.
The study was done between February and June, covering five protected areas and three wildlife corridors and revealed that in one national park, Bardia, tiger numbers had trebled from around 18 in 2009 to 50 this year.
Similarly in in Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, the number of tigers had doubled from eight to 17, and in Chitwan National Park the number increased from 91 to 120 putting CNP in the top list of Tiger habitat. Likewise, Banke National Park, recorded four tigers.
Overall numbers in Nepal had risen from 121 in 2009 to this year’s figure of 198, with the estimate for tiger numbers ranging between 163 and 235.
The new results came from a joint tiger survey by India and Nepal using the same methodology to assess numbers of tigers which are found in the Terai Arc Landscape stretching 600 miles across 15 protected areas in the two countries.
More than 250 conservationists and wildlife experts worked on the survey, which cost 35 million rupees ($367,955). The number of tigers in the wild has fallen from 100,000 in 1900 to around 3,200 in the world.
Megh Bahadur Pandey, Director General of Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, said, “Nepal’s results are an important milestone to reaching the global TX2 goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by the year 2022. Tigers are a part of Nepal’s natural wealth and we are committed to ensuring these magnificent wild cats have the prey, protection and space to thrive.”
Anil Manandhar, country representative of WWF Nepal, said: “While we celebrate the positive results from this tiger survey, WWF calls on the government of Nepal to redouble efforts to protect these conservation gains that could easily be lost as human-tiger conflict increases and illegal wildlife trade empties our forests.”
International Tiger Day is an annual celebration celebrated to raise awareness for tiger conservation, held annually on 29 July. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. The goal of the day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise public awareness and support for tiger conservation issues.