After 40 years of conservation efforts, India’s Project Tiger is officially a failure with Bengal tiger numbers in 2009 now lower than at the project’s inception in the 1970s.

At the start of the 20th Century India provided sanctuary for an estimated 40,000 tigers. By the 1970s, hunting had reduced this number to around 1,800.

Project Tiger was initially successful and numbers were estimated at around 4.000 at the start of the 21st Century. However, the population has crashed in the last decade with the last tiger census estimating numbers at just 1,400.

The latest blow was the Panna reserve’s admission last month that it has lost all of its 24 tigers but the tiger tragedy is being played out everywhere:

Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh and Buxa in West Bengal had 12 tigers in 2006 but neither has recorded a single sighting this year;

Dampa in Mizoram has only two tigers left;

Indravati in Chattisgarh has been taken over by Maoist rebels and the tiger’s status is unknown

Palamau in Jharkhand and Simplipal in Orissa both report large declines;

Kanha in Madhya Pradesh, one of the best tiger habitats, there have been six unexplained tiger deaths since November 2008.

So what are the reasons for the dramatic decline in this incredible species?

Hunting the hunter
Tiger’s fetch huge prices on illegal wildlife trade markets – a tiger skin is worth US$10,000, a bowl of tiger penis soup (said to improve sexual prowess) costs US$320 and a single claw can cost US$20. It’s estimated that a single specimen — ground down and separated into various medicines — earns roughly US$50,000. China’s rising affluence has meant greater demand for tiger parts. “It’s the traditional Chinese medicine market that’s driving demand,” says Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. For poachers, who use Nepal as a transit route to China, the big cat is big business.

Squeezed for space
In the name of development, forests are being cleared to build roads and human encroachment is eroding buffer zones, reducing the animals’ habitat and food supply. “Tiger reserves take up just 2% of India’s landmass. All we need to do is make is those 35,000 sq km inviolate,” says P K Sen, founder-director of Project Tiger. Easier said than done. In 2006, a new law granted tribal people legal right to forest land and 1000s of people flooded into the forests, elbowing out wildlife.

Toothless force
The budget for tiger protection has gone up but the green army tasked with saving the big cat has neither the equipment nor the training for the job. Forest guards, wielding sticks or antique rifles have to take on poachers armed with automatics. “There are huge vacancies in their ranks and most of them are old since there has been no recruitment for 20 years,” says Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Trust of India. Range officers get no training in wildlife enforcement. “They are not well-versed in legal procedures and 90% of the cases against poachers fail to stand up in court,” says Kumar.

Too many Centers of power
There are many organizations trying to save the tiger – government and NGO. However, coordination between them is poor. “Funds are required but what is even more urgently needed is organizations working in tandem,” says Wright. She cites Panna as an example with the Madhya Pradesh authorities ignoring poaching warnings by a Central team.

Tourist trap
Today, tigers are prisoners of human intruders. At night, they are wary of poachers. By day, there are camera-clicking tourists. “Irresponsible tourism can pose a big problem for the tiger,” says Sen. But the good news is that the National Tiger Conservation Authority has now barred visitors from breeding areas.

So is it too late?
Some experts worry that the small population makes the future of the tiger genetically non-viable but others remain optimistic. Until now, tigers have always been extraordinarily adaptable and resilient. “All a tiger needs,” says Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Trust of India, “is a little bit of cover, some water and some prey.”

Only time will tell if India can provide this.

Via Times of India

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