Numbers swell but threat of attack stays

NEW DELHI: India today has almost twice the number of tigers it had a decade ago, but the threats to India’s big cats remain as potent as ever.

India’s reported tiger deaths related to poaching peaked in 2016, according to World Wildlife Fund-India.

There were 50 poaching-related deaths in 2016. According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, this is the highest in 15 years. India’s tiger populations registered a steady rise from 1706 tigers in 2011 to 2226 in 2014.

“We are expecting the tiger population to cross 2,500,” Debabrata Swain, head of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, said of the ongoing All India Tiger Estimation.

“There is no place for complacency. Tiger habitats — including prime reserves and corridors — continue to be under threat,” Prerna Singh Bindra, a veteran wildlife conservationist and author of “The Vanishing,” said.