It’s highly depressing to realise that since the beginning of 20th century, 95% of the world’s wild tigers have disappeared. Just a century ago, nearly 100,000 tiger roamed in Asia however, the number has drastically dropped to 3,000 today.
The four main reasons that continue to threaten Tiger’s population are poaching, habitat destruction, man-animal conflict, and diminishing prey base.
Realising the rapid decline in the number of tigers around the world and, in a bid to raise awareness and conserve the iconic big cat. 29 July is observed as International Tigers Day. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit, with a goal to promote a worldwide system for protecting the natural habitats of Tigers
During 2010 summit in Russia, a declaration was made that the tiger populated countries had vowed to double the tiger population by 2022
Notably, India along with 12 other countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam) which have dense Tiger population agreed with decision.
Today, on World Tigers Day, PM Narendra Modi surprised the nation with a census report of tigers in India. Titled ‘Tiger Estimation Report 2018’, report claims that India has achieved the target of doubling tiger population four years before the deadline of 2022.
Launching the census reports, PM Modi said that Tigers in India have increased from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018 and the growth in the 4th cycle of the Tiger Census has been 33%
Reports show that Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers that is 526. Karnataka at number 2, has recorded as many as 524 tigers, followed by Uttarakhand at 3rd position with 442 tigers. Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in the number of tigers while in Odisha, the records remained constant. All other states witnessed a positive trend.
Releasing the report, it was observed that India is now one of the safest habitats in the world for tigers.
