According to the 2013 tiger census report, unveiled in Kathmandu on the occasion of Word Tiger Day on Monday, the big cat numbers have now reached 198 in Nepal - a rise of 63 per cent from 2009, when the last nationwide tiger count was conducted. In 2009, altogether 121 adult tigers were traced in Nepal. [break]
In the three years between 2009 and 2013, there was no nationwide tiger count. Only isolated counts were held in particular areas. And the government kept adding the findings of the new counts to the previous figure every year to show a consistent rise in tiger population, something which experts found unscientific and unreliable.
Experts believe that tiger counting can be scientific and reliable only if it is conducted across the country at the same time.
However, clearing doubts that Nepal´s tiger population might not have genuinely increased given the unscientific way of counting over the last three years, the new result also showed an annual growth of 12 per cent in the number of the big cats since 2009.
The 2013 tiger report is based on the camera trapping of tigers conducted in five protected areas and three wildlife corridors between February and June this year.
As per the tiger census, financially supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal and technically assisted by the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), Chitwan National Park has the highest number of adult tigers (120), followed by Bardiya National Park (50) and Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve (17). Adult tigers were also found, albeit in very low numbers, in Parsa Wildlife Reserve (7) and Banke National Park (4).
"We are inching closer to our target of doubling the tiger population by 2022," said Megh Bahadur Pandey, director general of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). "The latest tiger count indicates this clearly."
At an international conference on the tiger held in Kathmandu in 2009, the government had expressed commitment to doubling the big cat population, which was just 121 then, by 2022. With the revelations of the new report, Nepal is now short of less than 50 tigers to achieve the 2022 target.
Wildlife Trade Control Coordinator at WWF Nepal, Diwakar Chapagain, said the remarkable rise in tiger population was the result of several initiatives taken by the government, partner organizations and the people in the last five years.
"In the last few years, the government has strengthened its organizational structure and mobilized enough resources besides effectively curbing wildlife trade," said Chapagain. "At the same time, the government also collaborated with partner organizations like WWF Nepal, civil society and neighboring countries. The rise in tiger population is an outcome of all these measures."
The history of tiger counting in Nepal is not very long. It began in the early 1970s with the approval of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029 B.S. and the initiation of the Tiger Ecology Project. "In the first count, which relied heavily on tiger footprints, just about 70 of the big cats were found in Nepal," said Chapagain. "Almost consistently, the tiger population has been increasingly ever since, with the figure reaching a new high this time around."
On Monday, the National Tiger Conservation Committee (NTCC), headed by Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khila Raj Regmi, decided to intensify collaboration with all stakeholders to save tigers from becoming extinct. NTCC also decided to develop genetic profiles of all endangered animals, including tigers.
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