Protecting the Indian National Animal - Beyond the Global Tiger Day Hype

World Tiger Day has been observed world over but especially in countries with Tiger populations on July 29th.

 It has been an event for the past seven years since the 2010 Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit with the aim to enable the ambition of doubling global tiger population by 2022 the next Year of the Tiger in the Asian calendar. The #Connect2Tigers hashtag from WWF is helping connect tigers with the smartphone generation! As tiger conservation faces the challenges of climate change, urbanization and increased man-animal conflict, the encroaching development projects and the ever-present problem of poaching – the need of the hour is innovative solutions to “Save the Tiger.”

Can millennials and the younger generations to the rescue of the Indian National Animal?

 The Royal Bengal Tiger is a sub-species that is surviving better than the other embattled tigers across the globe. But new challenges continue to emerge. Awareness is the first step to create Tiger champions and conservators. This cartoon from Green Humour is a great tool to reach younger audiences. 

 (c) Green Humour

The cartoonist himself, Rohan Chakravarty acknowledges a tryst with a tigress as life changing turning a dentist into a popular cartoonist promoting the green cause!

Building experiences and connections between the younger generations and the tigers that inspire future game-changers and conservationists who can develop innovative solutions to the tiger conservation challenge is a key step to enable conservation. 

I was blessed to have read Jim Corbett’s My India as part of my English curriculum in middle school. It fired my imagination and added to my fascination to all big cats. A quick trip past the Corbett National Park helped fuel the fascination. Catching the tigers at play in the Singapore Zoo and later in its Night Safari, a trip to the Tiger Temple in Kanchanapuri in Thailand, though controversial in today’s times with scandal of drugged tigers and smuggling of tiger parts, cemented my bond with the tigers. 

 

 At the Singapore Zoo - Tiger Trek and the one of the white tigers

 Tiger cubs at the Tiger Temple, Thailand during the cub feeding programme

Although wildlife fanatics claim that there’s nothing like coming across the Tiger in the wild – dominating its habitat – any interaction with this magnificent beast can kindle a bond if fostered. 
The Vandalur Zoo’s summer Zoo Ambassador programme is one such initiative that can help forge bonds between urban children and the natural world and its mesmerizing fauna.

India is home to 70% of the global tiger population so real impact can be made to tiger conservation goals if the Indian Tigers are protected and allowed to procreate and prosper in peace. Man-animal conflict reduced in the Sundarbans thanks to solar lighting and energy supply. Involving the local communities in tiger conservation is another crucial step and such projects that improve lives and supplement livelihoods help. India has lost 97 % of its tiger population in the past century (1918-2018). But in recent years any success stories have emerged recently. In 2006 there were only 1,411 tigers were left in India despite it being our national animal and the Project Tiger. It is expected that we have 3,000 tigers in the 2018 Tiger Survey extrapolating from 2014 estimates of 2,226 tigers. In 2017, it was estimated 115 tigers died down from 122 in 2016.

Losses in the floods in the northeast worsened by urbanization and climate change have yielded tiger deaths for along with the Rhino the forests of the northeast and the Sundarbans are tiger hotspots. The Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, for example, is a national park which in addition to being a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in Assam, India is a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve. Known for birding as well. Open November to April and closed during the Monsoons and rainy season from May to October. It was in peril by the Bodoland separatists but has fought back. The presence of insurgents remains a problem in these dense forest reserve areas, as are news of proposals for thermal power projects for power to India and Bangladesh close to the biodiversity hotspot the other UNESCO Heritage site the Sundarbans.

 India is home to nearly 70% of the global tiger population. But India’s tigers also faces the threat from development projects:

 a report released on July 23 lists 399 road, irrigation and railway projects that could impact tiger habitats in eight States comprising the Central India-Eastern Ghats landscape. 

The Eastern Ghats have emerged as a region where the tiger population has revived and consolidated and such projects as well as the clearance for the ONGC project in bird sanctuaries and near the biodiversity hot spot the Gulf of Mannar is counter-intuitive and against the tenets of sustainable development. 

(c) The Hindu

If we are to double the world tiger population by the Year of the Tiger in 2022 we need to work fast and work smart. This can be a major chance for India to emerge as a country for Tiger Conservation best practices and leadership.