“It was not a blind approach, but to use the tiger to save something more valuable — its habitat. I don’t judge Project Tiger by only their numbers. That, in my opinion, is what led to several shortcomings. Tiger population numbers are a matter of survival to every field director. Tiger is not the ‘be all and end all’ of the project but definitely the frontrunner. People visiting reserves solely to view tigers and having other vehicles zoom past them to see the animal is a failure. This was not the vision, Ranjitsinh continued.
In addition, India is home to over 70% of the world’s tigers. Thus, it is India’s duty to the rest of the world to protect them, according to Uma Ramakrishnan, a professor and molecular ecologist from India who works at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. Maintaining connection, controlling unfavorable interactions between tigers and people, and better understanding the impacts of inbreeding on subsequent generations of tigers are all important for the future of tiger populations, in addition to growing numbers.
India and Cambodia struck into an arrangement last year to translocate a few tigers to that nation. “Providing tigers to Cambodia is a possibility. Both their officials and our group have visited,” Yadav added. “We must ascertain the reason for the tiger decimation there and make sure that all contributing elements, such as prey base, poaching, and patrols, are addressed.” He claimed that the final tiger to be seen in Cambodia was photographed in 2009.
Yadav recognized that many tiger sanctuaries, including Corbett, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, and Tadoba, have an issue with abundance. “These reserves ought to be managed actively. For instance, we are transporting tigers from the Corbett refuge to the Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, he said. “We are developing management strategies. Because it’s a dynamic process, we can’t put a limit on the number of tigers.
Source- Hindustan Times