Over half of tigers lost in 5 years: census

[reorg]

Source: The Hindu

NEW DELHI: India has lost more than 50 per cent of its tiger population in the past five years with the numbers dwindling to 1,411 from 3,642 in 2001-02, according to the latest tiger census report.

The “State of tiger, co-predators and prey in India” report, released here on Tuesday, said there had been an overall decrease in the tiger population except in Tamil Nadu where the numbers have gone up substantially from 60 in 2001-02 to 76.

(...)

Adopting a 17.43 per cent coefficient of variation in the figures estimated with the latest GIS technology instead of the pugmark methodology, the report, however, says that the status of its co-predators, prey and habitat has not adversely changed in the reserves and protected area; the decline has been in the outside areas.

The assessment has shown that the tiger has suffered due to direct poaching, loss of quality habitat and its prey.

...

Aarti Dhar
The Hindu, Front Page, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008

Read more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/13/stories/2008021357240100.htm

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"NEW DELHI (AFP) - India have opened a national wildlife crime prevention bureau aimed at intensifying a difficult fight against the poaching of tigers and other endangered species, officials said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered the setting-up of the federal agency in March last year after a national outcry over the large-scale slaughter of tigers.

The Indian forest ministry said Tuesday the bureau will draw experts from the police, environmental agencies and customs, and try to "reduce demand for wildlife and its products."

The government admitted in 2005 that poachers killed 122 tigers between 1999 and 2003. An earlier official count in 2001-02 estimated that there were 3,642 tigers in India, down from about 40,000 before the 1947 independence from Britain. ..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080123/wl_sthasia_afp/indiawildlifecrime


"... The current range of the tiger extends through one of the most densely inhabited regions of the world, where human numbers are rising at an average of 1.87 per cent per annum (i.e. doubling in 37 years), according to the World Resources Institute. Except for Thailand and China (where there are fewer than 100 tigers), human populations are increasing much faster than the average global rate. During the 20 years since Project Tiger began in 1973, India's human population has increased by over 300 million, and livestock by over 100 million. In the past 30 years, Vietnam's population has doubled, making it one of the world's most densely populated countries. It is second to another tiger range state, Bangladesh, in terms of farming population per hectare of cultivated land. The human pressure on wild habitat, including protected areas, is clearly intense, and increasing.

Like other big cats, the tiger probably has little future outside protected areas because of the danger to livestock and human life. Tigers which stray out of reserves and attack livestock are often poisoned by local people. ..."

http://pudang.tripod.com/more.html

[stubtoe]

1. We are watching this magnificent animal go extinct in our lifetime.

It hurts.

[zonkers]

2. Kills me. I cant even think about it. I saw footage of a swimming poloar bear

searching for an iceberg or land. (shot from a copter). Broke my heart.

[The Stranger]

8. Killing me too.

I'm just sick and tired of it. No more.

[Lorien]

3. Our species is doing the unforgivable

:cry:

[Deny and Shred]

4. Tiger paw goes for $1500 in Japan. The average wage in India

makes it irresistible. Someone will be cashing in.
The Massai men in Africa have had a custom of achieving manhood, similar to a Bar Mitzvah in a way, in which to become a man, you must kill a tiger. Not good news for the future of tigers. Either we give $$$ to preserve habitat where the habitat exists, or find a way to create habitat in an area with the financial resources to provide that protection, or we hope for the best.

With habitat turning over to farming and ranching, these big cats feed on livestock. That costs $$$ to people who are not millionaires. It's the inbreeding, too. Many wild big cats are, sadly, inbred, and less able to fend for themselves.

I doubt my grandkids will see much difference between dragons, minotaurs, and centaurs and the actual animals that thrived: lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, Chilean Sea Bass (the original, not that new fish with the same name), Rhinos, among many others that will soon be extinct.

Sad, yes. Inevitable, not necessarily. Requiring a massive shift in priorities by mankind to reverse the trend, yes. Likely, no.

[NYC]

6. No tigers in Africa.

Must be lions the Massai are killing.

[Greylyn58]

5. This is horrifying

Humans are such a plague on this planet. All we care about is our own.

These magnificent, beautiful creature are being eradicated for money. Damn...people are evil.

[grace0418]

7. I cannot express how sad this makes me. Tigers are one of the most beautiful

creatures to ever walk the face of the earth. And we are killing them all.

[The Stranger]

9. Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright . . .

[closeupready]

10. I do think tigers are probably going to go extinct. however, maybe not, since

they can be bred in captivity, and perhaps at some future point they can be reintroduced, such as with wolves. But as long as we continue consuming animal products whose source can not be confirmed, and as long as we continue burning fossil fuels, the future of all apex predators is VERY bleak, IMO.

Because people don't respect nature. I don't know if it's Christianity or capitalism or what, but something in our way of life seems to command us to subjugate and exterminate, if necessary.