While the nation is celebrating the increase in tiger population in the latest census, experts have said that the figures do not reflect reality.
Nitin Desai, central India director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), challenged the extrapolation theory adopted by officials to arrive at the figure of 1,706. According to this theory, the tiger population in a designated area where camera traps are installed is used as a base to determine the same in another near-identical area.
He added that 300 out of the 500 camera traps used across the country malfunctioned. “Though they were replaced, one cannot be sure of the results,” he said.
“A portion of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, with a considerable tiger population, was not covered. We fail to understand how the population in Tadoba went down to 60 from 92 during the last census,” Desai said. Ground-level staff of the forest department in Maharashtra is ill-equipped to undertake such an exercise, he said. It is likely that they provided wrong data, which was used as basis for further estimation. Core issues like relocation of villages from forests remain neglected, he said.
Debi Goenka, executive trustee of the Conservation Action Trust, said: “The census methodology has various shortcomings. The state government data cannot be considered authentic for such a massive exercise.” The estimation of tiger population in non-protected areas remains a major concern, he said.
“The count has gone up because the area covered during this census is more than double of what was covered last time. Moreover, many areas like the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve have been added recently,” Desai said.
Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary magazine, said: “The loss of 20,000 sq km of habitat is the real story and is more critical than any periodic ups and downs in numbers. Habitats, which we had hoped tigers would move into using corridors we are working to protect, are being wiped out.”
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