Dec.
26, 2012 — The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has announced
significant progress for tigers in three key landscapes across the big cat's
range due to better law enforcement, protection of additional habitat, and
strong government partnerships.
The
successes are much-needed good news as tiger numbers worldwide continue to
hover at all-time lows due to the combined threat of poaching, loss of prey,
and habitat destruction. WCS estimates that only 3,200 tigers exist in the
wild.
The
news begins in southwestern India where WCS research and conservation efforts
that began 25 years ago now show a major rebound of tigers in the Western Ghats
region of Karnataka State. Over 600 individuals have been identified to date
from camera trap photos during the last decade in this mountainous landscape.
In Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks, tigers have actually reached
saturation levels, with surplus young tigers spilling out into forest-reserves
and dispersing using secured forest corridors through a landscape that holds
over a million human beings. The combination of strict government-led
anti-poaching patrols, voluntary relocation of villages away from tiger
habitats, and the vigilant local presence of WCS conservation partners watching
over tigers has led to the rebound of big-cat populations and their prey. In
newer tiger reserves including Bhadra and Kudremukh, numbers have increased by
as much as 50 percent after years of neglect and chronic poaching were tackled.
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