Tigers Now "Virtually Extinct" In India Thanks To Poaching - Independent

[hatrack]

A row has broken out over tiger numbers in India, with some conservationists arguing that the species is on the brink of extinction there. An official tiger "census" puts the number of animals in the wild at around 3,700, but critics say that is more than double the true figure. Over 30 years since the threat to tigers was first recognised and Project Tiger launched by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, they claim tiger numbers are no higher now than then - around 1,800.

"We are currently at the same stage as we were in 1972, when Project Tiger began," said Neel Gogate, a local co-ordinator for WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund. "We are even behind that - because the human population pressures have gone up manyfold." Conservationist Valmik Thapar, who presented the BBC's Land of the Tiger series, has condemned Project Tiger for "poor management, corruption, lack of funding and outdated scientific methods".

The alarm was sounded last year, when the government was forced to admit that 122 tigers had been killed by poachers between 1999 and 2003. At the same time, it emerged that despite an official population of 28, no tiger had been seen in Sariska National Park in Rajasthan, one of the original reserves in Project Tiger, since October 2004. They are presumed to have fallen prey to poachers, lured by the fact that a single tiger carcass is worth $50,000 in the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

At Kanha National Park in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, tourists riding elephants pay 600 rupees (£7.70) a time to view tigers. Queues of up to 30 four-wheel-drive vehicles can form to see one big cat. The local field director of Project Tiger, K Nayak, insists that the official population of 136 tigers in Kanha is accurate, but critics say the counting method - the figure is arrived at through a combination of techniques, including pugmark analysis - amounts to little more than guesswork.

EDIT

http://www.ecoearth.info/articles/reader.asp?linkid=55016

[Deja Q]

1. Thanks to IT, that won't be a problem for much longer.

Or because few are still alive...

or if Pakistan pulls a Bush and pre-emptively nukes India...

[Teaser]

2. ALRIGHT!

MISSION FUCKING ACCOMPLISHED.

Goddam Tigers. They had it coming. I've seen the way they look at our women.

[NNadir]

3. I have found it difficult to understand how Tigers in India survive at all

I've heard of these proposals to unleash them in other parts of the world; including North America.

If feasible, it's a good idea. But I don't think many large mammals will actually survive anywhere.

[DanCa]

4. If you want to help the tiger try this link.

www.savechinastigers.org There is a english page after the first click. Danny.