India has lost 750 tigers in the past eight years due to several causes (representational)
New Delhi:
The Union’s environment ministry said on Saturday that four surveys since 2006 have shown a healthy annual growth rate of 6% in the Indian tiger population, offsetting natural losses and keeping their numbers at the level of carrying capacity of habitats.
The clarification from the ministry came following a PTI report based on an RTI response which showed that India had lost 750 tigers in the past eight years due to several causes, including natural deaths, poaching , accidents, disputes and foreclosures.
The ministry cited details shared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to point out that the tiger population in India has been brought to an assured recovery path on the brink in recent years.
“Thanks to the efforts of the Indian government within the framework of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger was taken from the edge of the abyss towards a guaranteed recovery path, which is evident in the conclusions of the quadrennial estimate All India Tiger carried out 2006, 2010 and 2014. and 2018, “said the NTCA.
“These results showed a healthy annual growth rate of tigers at 6%, which compensates for natural losses and keeps tigers at the level of carrying capacity of habitats, in the Indian context,” he said.
RTI data showed that 369 tigers died from natural causes, 168 due to poaching, 42 due to unnatural causes such as accidents and conflicts, 101 due to animal seizures across the country.
“For the period 2012 to 2019, we can observe that the average number of tiger deaths per year in the country hovers around 94, which is offset by the annual recruitment highlighted by this robust growth rate,” said the NTCA.
The statutory body of the Ministry of the Environment said that it had taken several measures within the framework of the current project of the Tiger project to combat poaching, which also is considerably controlled.
The Tiger Project is a program sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment and Forests, which provides central assistance to states that have designated tiger reserves.
“The National Tiger Conservation Authority maintains the highest standards of transparency regarding the provision of tiger mortality statistics to citizens via its website and a dedicated portal, www.tigernet.nic.in, to that people can make a logical assessment, if they want to, “he said.
On the report, he said that the presentation of data over a long period will display a large number, which could cause excessive alarm.
The NTCA said it had a rigorous protocol for attributing the cause to the death of a tiger, which is treated as unnatural unless the state concerned demonstrates otherwise by submitting autopsy reports, assessments histopathological and forensic in addition to photographs and circumstantial evidence.
“It is only after a detailed analysis of these documents that the cause is attributed to the death of a tiger,” he added.
“While it is appreciated that the figures available on the NTCA website and provided in RTI’s response have been used in these reports, the manner in which they have been presented is alarming and does not take into account the range of processes that go into fighting the tiger’s death in the country and the natural gains that have been made in tiger conservation, “he said.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
