Contents
Its Significance
Tiger Facts
Tigers Status and Distribution
Tiger Threats
Fate of the Tiger
 Amur Tiger
 South China Tiger
 Sumatran Tiger
 Indo-Chinese Tiger
Solutions
WWF Action Plan

 Acknowledgements
 References


Fate of the Tiger


The Fate of Bengal Tigers in India in 2010

"With the unabated increase in human and livestock populations, the protected areas (PAs) and the tiger within them will face an escalating state of siege. Even today about four-fifths of the total tiger population in India is in PAs - a habitat that constitutes less than 2 per cent of the land mass - while tigers in much larger habitats without protection are constantly decreasing."

"These latter tigers will continue to decrease and may almost disappear by 2010, except in a few very remote areas. In the PAs, however, I do believe that the tiger would continue to survive and there would still be more Bengal tigers in the PAs of India and of other range states than all the tigers elsewhere." - Dr MK Ranjitsinh, director of the WWF Tiger Conservation Programme, New Delhi   

"Since 1989 official government records indicate that India has lost nearly 1,500 tigers. The crisis is at a critical point. Will we be able to slow down this decline over the next two years? On this fact will depend the fate of the tiger in 2010. I believe that if we can win some battles to save the tiger, India will have around 500 tigers in about 12 protected areas in 2010. If we fail to win some of today's battles, tigers will be virtually extinct by the time of the next Year of the Tiger." - Valmik Thapar, vice-chair, IUCN Cat Specialist Group (Asia) and director, Ranthambhore Foundation, New Delhi

"The tiger may survive by 2010, but its future will be even bleaker than now. Past trends show that it is most vulnerable in dry deciduous and semi-arid environments. Forty per cent of the tiger population in India lives in these habitats and is barely surviving in sub-optimal conditions aggravated by high human disturbance. The tiger has already disappeared from over 70 per cent of the semi-arid and 35 per cent of the dry deciduous protected forest habitats. The habitat still exists in some form - but without tigers."

"Unless threats such as loss of prey and poaching are controlled, tigers will continue to disappear as they have in the past. The trends suggest that if the tiger is lost it will be from these sub-optimal habitats in dry deciduous and semi-arid habitat with high human and cattle populations. If the tiger is to survive beyond 2010, such problems on the ground need immediate attention." - Dr RS Chundawat, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Duna

*That the tiger and its habitat is fast depleting is a major cause for concern. Since the Ranthambhore Foundation's inception, it has tried to find ways in which local people could be involved in the tiger's conservation. This, we feel, is the only way in which the tiger's survival can be ensured - if at all." - Dr GS Rathore, field director, Ranthambhore Foundation, New Delhi

Nepal
Tiger surveys conducted in protected areas during 1994 and 1996 revealed a total population of 96 resident adults and estimated a further 161 cubs and non-territorial sub-adults. The surveys showed that they are mainly found in three distinct populations in the lowland areas separated by migration barriers. The largest comprises three contiguous protected areas on the border with India - Chitwan National Park (932 km 2), Parsa Wildlife Reserve (499 km2) and Valmiki tiger reserve (840 km2) in Bihar, India.

Chitwan and Parsa contain 45 or 50 resident adult and sub-adult tigers. In Valmiki a census in May 1997 reported 53 tigers. However, some experts question this figure and suggest only 15 or 20. Exact numbers may prove to be fairly academic because although Chitwan tigers are well protected against poachers, poaching in Parsa and Valmiki is a serious problem.

The second largest tiger population of around 37 is found in Bardia National Park (960 km2) and in the adjoining forest to the east in Banke District, which is a proposed extension to the park. Tigers to the west of Bardia in Kailali District have become isolated since the late 1980s due to habitat fragmentation. A survey conducted in November and December 1997 found four adult tigers in Bara District adjoining Parsa Wildlife Reserve and none at all in Banke District adjoining Royal Bardia National Park. Tigers here, or in other areas such as Bara outside protected areas, are not going to survive for long unless some measures of protection can be afforded to them and their prey.

The smallest population is found in the Royal Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve (155 km2) in the south-west corner of Nepal. A census in December 1996 noted 14 resident tigers in the reserve and a further two in a proposed extension area. This extension would double the size of the reserve but there are problems in setting it up because of an invasion by squatters.

A survey team is currently assessing the status of corridors linking the reserve with the forests across the border in India.

Bhutan
Bhutan probably supports between 80 and 240 Bengal tigers, some of which it shares with India. The exact number will be established once a programme of surveys is completed in 1998.

Bhutan still has 64 per cent intact forest cover and more than 25 per cent of its area is formally protected. It also has a low human population density of 32.3 per km2 (compared with India's 256.7 people per km2), which suggests that habitat loss and depletion of prey are minimal. Even though the vast majority of Bhutan's people are Buddhists opposed to widespread hunting, tiger poaching and the smuggling of animal parts is still a problem.

Tigers range from the relative lowland sub-tropical forests of the south up into the central Himalayas (3,500 m). Here, transient males have been known to climb to 4,000 metres to hunt domestic yak. Throughout their range in Bhutan, their favoured prey species are sambar deer and wild boars.

Although tigers are not found in all the kingdom's protected areas, there is a continuous distribution from the north-west in Jigme Dorje National Park south-eastwards through an unprotected but currently non-threatened corridor, to the Black Mountains National Park. From there, the distribution continues south to the Royal Manas on the border with India, adjacent to which lies the Manas tiger reserve in Assam. From the Black Mountains National Park, tigers extend eastwards to Thrumshingla National Park and probably further east to Kulung Chhu Wildlife Sanctuary on Bhutan's eastern border with India. How further east they extend is not known.

Throughout the central Himalayas, the tiger is difficult to poach without the active support of local people. But many now know of the high prices and easy money that tiger parts fetch. The increased demand in markets outside the country has led to a rise in poaching attempts within Bhutan - "something that keeps our anti-poaching squads very busy" says Karma Tshering of the Bhutan government's Nature Conservation Section.The fate of Bengal tigers in Nepal and Bhutan in 2010 - what the experts say:

"Traditional Chinese medicine is no longer such a threat, but the losses sustained and the relentless loss of habitat have taken their toll. Nevertheless, more resilient than imagined, the tiger persists in the best protected and managed reserves, certainly in Nepal and in the mountain vastness of Bhutan." - Dr Charles McDougal, Smithsonian Research Associate, Nepal Coordinator for the International Trust for Tiger Conservation and WWF consultant

"When field staff question the villagers on their opinions of the tiger, many favour its protection and see it as a religious deity that subdues all evil. But at the same time, those who are highly dependent on their livestock for survival look upon it as a major predator. Often they kill tigers by poisoning or trapping and I can't see that stopping." - Karma Tshering, Bhutan government tiger conservation expert

Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, tiger population estimates vary between 300 and 460. They are found throughout the Sundarbans mangrove forests and may still occur in Teknaf VIII, in the extreme south-eastern tip of the country bordering Burma. The Sundarbans, spanning the borders of Bangladesh and India, are a high priority for tiger conservation.

The tiger's protected habitat comprises three wildlife sanctuaries: Sundarban East, South and West IV. These were recently expanded to form a contiguous area of 1,379 km2 adjoining the Sundarban tiger reserve in India, thereby creating a total protected area of 2,700 km2.

Tigers are threatened by poaching (at least 14 were taken between 1975 and 1991), habitat loss and natural disasters such as the cyclone in 1988 which was thought to have killed nine tigers.

Tigers in the Sunderbans are responsible for a number of human deaths. Between 1975 and 1993, 23 fatalities were recorded, but many more go unreported because they occur in core zones where it is illegal to enter: reporting a companion's death would involve admitting trespassing. 



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