Experts must help increase tigers’ numbers

File pic

The world marked World Tiger Day recently, but this year has been grim for tigers. According to data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, India has witnessed 81 tiger deaths so far this year. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of tiger fatalities, followed by Maharashtra and Telangana.

A co-founder of the wildlife group CLaW had said that they celebrate being the country with the largest population of tigers in the wild, but highlighted a huge responsibility of conserving them. He added that the alarmingly high tiger mortality figures in the current calendar year should concern us adding that there should be a robust mechanism in place, otherwise, we could very soon see their population dwindling. All those linear development projects around parks, poor rate of conviction in wildlife crimes, lack of mitigation measures in decades-old highways, etc are the primary contributors that can negatively affect the growth story he stated. A conservationist stated that human-tiger conflict is inevitable, resulting in tiger mortality, and our tigers face severe threats due to poaching as well.

Experts must sit down and chalk out a sustainable and long-lasting system to ensure we can conserve the tiger population and up their numbers.

While animal-human conflict may be inevitable given development, there are ways in which humans at least in urban areas can lessen this. Poaching needs more awareness and extremely stringent punishment and penalties. A better rate of conviction in wildlife crimes will serve both as a deterrent and a lesson.

In the end, our urban children need much more awareness about the importance of wildlife, ecological balance and the importance of conservation. If this can be taught in schools, young people will realise that a tiger is more than just a tiger and the importance of all fauna in the ecosystem.