[FEL-L] India's tiger population

[Gary Breuckman]

Tiger Population Lower Than Believed
By TIM SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer

India's population of wild tigers, which wildlife experts have long
warned is on the decline, is dramatically lower than previously
believed, according to preliminary results of an exhaustive study of
tiger habitats released Wednesday.

The study, conducted over the past two years by the government-run
Wildlife Institute of India, found that the tiger population in some
states may be nearly 65 percent less than experts had thought.

Full results of the study are not expected until late this year, but
conservationists said the early results indicated the most recent
tiger census - which found about 3,500 tigers - was far too
optimistic.

"The results are depressing," said Belinda Wright, director of the
Wildlife Protection Society of India and one of the foremost big cat
conservationists in the country. "But it's a major step forward that
a government study has finally come to terms with this disastrous
decrease in tiger numbers."

Poaching and encroachment on tiger habitat have savaged India's tiger
population, which a century ago was believed to number in the tens of
thousands.

The key to protecting the animals now, according to experts who have
reviewed the results, is ensuring tigers are able to hunt, mate and
travel between the country's protected reserves, ensuring enough prey
for the cats and keeping inbreeding to a minimum.

"Our biggest challenge is to conserve these linkages between
protected areas," said Rajesh Gopal, secretary-general of the
government's Tiger Conservation Authority of India, which also took
part in the survey. "Only then can we save the tiger."

The last major tiger census, performed in 2001 and 2002, relied on
estimating the cat population by examining footprints. The current
study is far more extensive, using cameras "traps" triggered by
passing animals, as well as hundreds of wildlife officers tracking
the animals through droppings and footprints.

In Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state thought to be home to a
large percentage of the country's tigers, the new results estimated
that anywhere from 210 to 340 tigers currently live in and around the
state's wildlife preserves - far lower than the 710 estimated in the
previous survey.

"The figures are quite different from what we've seen earlier," said
Gopal. He noted, though, that the new study was far more detailed
than anything in the past.

In 2001, the U.S. National Geographic Society estimated that 5,000 to
7,000 Bengal - or Indian - tigers existed in the wild, about half in
India. However, conservationists believe official estimates of tigers
in the wild are grossly exaggerated and the true figure may be closer
to 2,000 - or as little as several hundred.