Wednesday 7 December 2011

Number of Tigers died or killed in India in 2011: Report


Written by Anil Singh
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It’s often said that the Government always stops just at revealing the increase in the number of endangered animals during a time frame; and never discloses the number of animals died or killed during the same time period.

But NGOs and conservationists are always putting good work to extract that info from the Government.

According to statistics collated by a prominent wildlife NGO, Fifty-one tigers have died in different states of India between January 1, 2011 and December 5, 2011. A tigress shot dead outside Kaziranga Park in Assam on Monday is the latest addition to the list.

State-wise break of the Tigers killed (Figures provided by Wildlife Protection Society of India):

1) Uttarakhand ______14 tigers (Highest in a single state)
2) Karnataka__________6 Tigers
3) Maharashtra___________5 Tigers
4) Madhya Pradesh_______5 Tigers

Reasons for the Tiger Deaths:

When it comes to tiger deaths, everyone seems to be killing them, one pretext of the other or for one reason for the other.

Poaching, road accident, electrocution, infighting and fight with other animals are some of the reasons for the deaths. Some tigers died of natural causes and diseases too. A few were killed by villagers, police and the forest department.

Why are Tigers being killed:

Although reasons for their killing are many, which is amply refelected by the list of the killers given above; but poaching is the primary reason. Poachers, who are still active in various Tiger protected areas in the country, kill the animal (Royal Bengal Tiger) for its Skin, Whiskers (moustache), teeth, bones, skulls and claws.

The states of Manipur, Orissa, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand have distinguished themselves as the hubs of the tiger product trafficking this year.

The Journey So Far:

The tiger census figures released officially in Jan 2008, showed a mere 1,411 tigers alive as compared to 3,508 in 1997, a drastic drop of 60%. According to fresh government estimates in March 2011, the number now is anywhere between 1,571 and 1,875; the average working out to 1,706.
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