India wild tiger census shows population rise Skip to main content

India wild tiger census shows population rise

An Indian tigress wearing a radio collar jumps into the river from a boat as she is released by wildlife workers in the Sundarbans in February 2010 This is the first time that tigers in the Sunderbans have been counted

Related Stories

The number of tigers in India's wild has gone up by 20%, the environment and forest ministry says.
The latest census puts the population of the big cat at 1,706. There were 1,411 tigers at the last count in 2007.
The count included 70 tigers in the Sundarbans tiger reserve, which had not been covered in the last census.
India, with more than 45,000 sq km (27,961 miles) of forest area under 39 designated tiger reserves, had 100,000 tigers at the turn of the last century.
Since then there has been an alarming decline in numbers with 97% of tigers lost to poaching and shrinking habitats.
Today, fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild around the globe with India accounting for more than half of them.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh described the increase in numbers as "good news" and "a very encouraging sign".
"We have expanded the survey to cover the entirety of India now and our estimate is now more accurate," Associated Press quoted Rajesh Gopal of Project Tiger, the government's tiger conservation body, as saying.
Conservationists used hidden cameras installed at strategic points [like water bodies in forests and in the territories of big cats] and DNA tests to count the cats.
The survey included difficult terrain such as the Sundarbans mangrove forest in West Bengal state bordering Bangladesh.
Tiger numbers have been rapidly falling in recent years due to a rise in poaching, which experts say is now organised in a similar way to drug trafficking.
Conservationists say the authorities have not been able to put a stop to it, owing to corruption and the ever-changing techniques used by the cartels.
There is a huge demand for tiger bones, claws and skin in countries like China, Taiwan and Korea where they are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12877560

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...