(India) State tiger census reveals bad signs

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=56665

 

State tiger census reveals bad signs

NEIL PATE

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

THURSDAY, JULY 03, 2003 01:24:50 AM

 

PUNE: All is well with the Indian forests.., on paper.

The woods are thick, the animals are healthy and the

government has done a great job.

 

But director-general of forests M.K. Sharma is a

worried man, especially when it comes to the dwindling

tiger population.

 

And some of Sharma’s worst fears are confirmed by the

latest tiger population estimation trends, which

Maharashtra’s principal chief conservator of forests

(wildlife) Madhav Gogate is working on. The report is

to be submitted within the next 15 days.

 

Gogate said it was difficult to give an exact count of

big cats as they were “free ranging animals” but

conceded, “Forests in Gadchiroli and Chandrapur

districts have reported alarming trends, but Melghat,

Tadoba, Koyna and Nagzira forest reserves have shown

healthy trends.”

 

Sharma, who was in the city last week, said the

country, which started with 40,000 tigers in 1905, has

just 3,000 left, out of which nearly 1,700 are

estimated to be female. The number for the state

dropped from 258 in 1998 to 237 in 2001.

 

The director-general expressed serious concern about

the rise in poaching despite the presence of stringent

laws. “Last year’s electrocution of a tigress and her

two cubs by poachers in Maharashtra was painful news,”

he said.

 

Gogate told TNN that besides poaching, encroachment on

tiger habitat by tribal and agricultural communities

was exerting pressure on the tiger population. The

incidents of animals being run over by speeding

vehicles and poisoning of watering holes in the wild

have grown, he said.

 

Similar problems plague wildlife sanctuaries and 29

tiger projects in the country, Sharma observed.

Interestingly, nearly half the tigers now move in and

out of sanctuary areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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