Question

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A report on our the declining population of tigers in India, highlighting major reasons?

Answer 1

REPORT WRITING.

Population of TIGER.
The Tiger is a magnificent animal , the largest of the big cats. The tigers live in Asia. They have thick yellow fir with dark stripes. They are shy animals , preferring to live and hunt alone. They climb well , and are very graceful in their movements. But they are also fierce hunters killing wild pigs , deer and cattle for food. The tigers are in danger because its hunting areas being turned into farms and villages. Their numbers have been reduced because of extensive poaching in many Asian countries for their valuable skins. Their body parts are used in Chinese medicine and exotic recipes. In 1939 there were thought to be 30,000 tigers in India but today there are only 3000 left.
There are fifteen species in the family of Felidae, of which tiger is a multi- habitat species found practically throughout the country except the desert region, even upto 3050 mt height in Himalayas. The two main kinds are the SIBERIAN TIGER and the BENGAL TIGER. Unrestricted killing for trophies, skins for commercial purpose, flesh fat for medicinal use and sometimes through eradication of proclaimed animals as man eater or cattle-lifter has led to the decline in its population to a great extent.
Loss of forest habitat is another major factor, contributing to the decline of this majestic beast.
Bengal tigers live in India, and some range through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. The estimated wild population is approximately 3,060-4,735 tigers with about 333 in captivity, primarily in zoos in India.
The Bengal tiger occurs primarily throughout India, with smaller populations in southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and western Myanmar. The IUCN Cat Specialist Group reported a total of 3,250 to 4,700 Bengal tigers throughout the range in 1994.For several decades, the status of wild Tigers in India has been estimated from the individual identificatiom of pug Marks(or footprints), a methodology that has been challenged on grounds of Human error and manipulation. The first all-India census in 1971 produced a baseline figure of 1,800 tigers. Project Tiger and Wildlife Institute of India Officals reported in subsequent censuses that tiger numbers increased to 4,334 in 1989. These estimates were disrupted by Indian biologists, who Suggested that the number is much lower.

The Cat Specialist Group reported 2,750 to 3,750 Bengal tigers in India in 1994. These tigers are distributed among 66 protected areas,of which 20 fall under the umberalla of Project Tiger, a program based on total protection of tigers and conservation of selected habitats as reserves managed primarily for tigers. Another 150-250 tigers live in three protected areas in Nepal, 50-240 tigers are in four protected areas in Bangladesh, and an unknown numbers of tigers remains in Myanmar.
Although the wild Bengal tiger populations are considered more secure in India than other tiger subspecies found elsewhere in Asia, there exists the potential for rapid demise of wild populations through recently increased levels of poaching and poisoning.



THE INDIAN LION

The Indian lion is restricted to the Gir Forest in Gujrat. To protect this majestic animal from extinction the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park was formed in the year 1972. White tigers are simply a colour variant of Bengal tigers and are rarely found in the wild. They are just white-coloured Bengal tigers, they are not a separate subspecies of a pink nose, and creamy white fur with chocolate coloured stripes.White tigers are very rare, and today they can only be seen in zoos.

Indian zoos have bred tigers since 1880,the first time being at the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta. In the last two decades they have bred so successfully that there are now too many. Unfortunately the other subspecies of tiger brought by dealers outside India over the years have been mixed with India tigers, so that many zoo tigers are of questionable lineage and therefore not conservation purposes. The 1994 International Tiger Studbook lists the current global captive poulationof Bengal tigers at 333 tigers; 289 have the typical orange colouration of most free-ranging tigers, the remaining 44 are
The white colour morph, a rarely is observed formin the free-ranging population. All of the studbook-registered captive population is maintained in Indian zoos, except for one female Bengal tiger in North America.

Completion of the Indian Bengal Tiger Studbook is a necessary prerequisite To establishing a captive management program for tigers in India.

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Answer 2

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Causes for decline of tigers:--

1. Diseases
Various diseases also take their toll silently on the wildlife, including the predators. Many animals die and there is no way to ascertain the cause of their death. There are certain diseases that spread like epidemic and play havoc. Diseases like Feline Panleucopania (highly contagious and can be fatal), tuberculosis, sarcosystis, etc. have led to the decimation of many animals including tigers. Health management of wildlife, a relatively new area, is totally neglected. There is an urgent need to incorporate this field in the area of wildlife conservation.

2. Habitat loss and prey depletion
The key findings from many years of study of tiger population have indicated that in many sites, tigers decline in numbers because of habitat loss and prey depletion rather than being killed directly. A tiger needs to eat about 50 deer-sized animals or 6,600 pounds of living prey every year. Wherever prey-base is adequate and good protection measures are in place tiger populations reach high numbers simply because the species breeds quickly.

CASE STUDY:---
Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha (India) may soon face grave problem in terms of tiger population as the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has pointed out an “alarmingly low prey base” due to hunting by tribals living on the fringes.
The reserve, spanning over 2,750 sq km area in Mayurbhanj district, has been in news since 2009 with Maoists (terrorists) overrunning the park. The deepening rot in the reserve seems to be touching new lows with NTCA’s Deputy Inspector General S P Yadav in his report to the state government confirmed that Similipal has a dark future with the current level of prey base.
“The prey base appears to be alarmingly low in view of recurring problems of akhand shikar (mass hunting ritual conducted between mid-January and mid-April) by tribals and sustenance hunting of ungulates. In-situ build up of prey population at Jenabil and upper Barah Kamuda (core areas of the reserve) is strongly advised,” Yadav said in his report while advising Kanha Tiger Reserve model where the in-situ mode of prey base regeneration was adopted.
According to a news report, published in Indian Express (12 March 2012), Yadav, who toured the Similipal reserve in March the same year, said that he did not see any tiger. “I did not see too many wild boars and deer, the prey of tigers. Without the prey base, how can one sustain the tigers?” he asked.
bengal_tiger_2_edThe Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in the 2008 census had put the tiger numbers there between 15 and 27, a huge come down from 93-101 touted by reserve officials.
In May 2007, the motion-sensitive cameras set up by the WII for tiger census inside the reserve showed several poachers armed with bows and arrows having a free run inside upper Barah Kamuda range, a part of the core area that is supposed to house the maximum number of tigers.

3. Poor genetic diversity threat to tigers
A recent study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR), Rajasthan, India, says tiger population in the park has shown a loss of genetic diversity over the years. “RTR tiger population is showing loss of many alleles, which may be due to an isolated population without any genetic exchange,” said WII’s Dr S P Goyal, the investigator of the report — ‘Tiger Genome: Implications in Wildlife Forensics‘. Alleles are a group of genes that decide an animal’s hair colour and immunity, among other characteristics. Study was published in Times of India (3 October 2011)
4. Degradation of habitats
Big cats need secure and disturbance-free habitat to maintain a viable population. But haphazard development activities in the landscape of the protected areas (PAs) pose big threat to tigers. For instance, Buxa Tiger Reserve is one place, which is in the midst of a high density of human population and faces heavy pressure from people living in and around it.
5. Illegal wildlife trade
According to Interpol $32 billion was the value of illegal wildlife trade in the world in 2011. The agency also says that this is the fastest growing illegal activity in the world. Approximate figures, prevalent in 2006, show that tigers were killed for just Rs. 5,000 in India by gullible villagers, but were sold in international market for a hefty price of up to $50,000 by big traders, middlemen and smugglers. In 2011 alone till October 48 tiger deaths were reported in India.
6. Man-animal conflict
Bengal or Royal Bengal Tiger - 5; pix SShukla; Chandigarh; January 2011Man-animal conflict is another major factor that affects the big cats. As humans move deeper into the territory of tigers, chances of conflict between both sides increase many fold. Men and livestock often become the victim of tiger attacks. This infuriates villagers who resort to revenge killing.

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