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About Tiger

India contains 60% of the world's tigers; as recently as 1970 it was still legal to hunt them and to export skins. During the 1950s and early 1960s it is recorded that more than 3,000 tigers lost their lives to trophy hunters, most of these being tourists. Project Tiger was launched on April 1, 1973 on the basis of the recommendations of a special task-force of the Indian Board for Wildlife

Aims of Project Tiger in India

Project Tiger launched on the 1st April 1973 at Corbett National Park. It's aims were:
» To ensure maintenance of a viable population of tigers in India for scientific, economic, aesthetic, cultural and ecological values.
» To preserve, for all times, areas of such biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment of the people.
» Early development:
» With the co-operation of the Indian Government, Project Tiger initially established 9 reserves, across different ecosystems. These were devoted specifically to saving the tiger and eliminating those factors which were contributing to the decline of the tiger:
1. Habitat destruction.
2. Forestry disturbance.
3. Loss of prey.
4. Poaching.
5. Competition with local villagers and domestic animals.

Reserve Operations

Within the reserves, certain areas were designated as breeding grounds (core areas) and these were out of bounds to the public. It was hoped that as tiger populations increased any surplus animals would migrate to neighbouring forests. To encourage this to happen, routes were established away from public view which allowed easy access to other forests. Wide buffer zones protected the breeding areas and public access to these was limited.

The grazing of domestic cattle was halted, as was the harvesting of forestry. Entire villages were moved from the lands of their forefathers to areas where the people would no longer conflict with the wildlife. Most went with little complaint. Waiting for them were new houses, more land, and community facilities.

Ranthambhore was one of the first to be cleared of cattle and the other reserves followed soon after.

Vehicles for different ecosystems

Assorted vehicles were donated to enable transport around the various ecosystems. Speed boats covered the swampy Sundarbans, while camels went to arid Ranthambhore. Elephants for the rain forests of Manas, bullock carts for Melghat. Diesel-powered jeeps went everywhere. The carcasses of dead animals were left to rot, left to feed the scavengers and fertilise the soil. A 'hands off attitude' was taken. Terms like 'National Park' were dropped in favour of 'Tiger Reserve'.

Initial Successes

To begin with, this plan was a great success and the tiger count showed an increase of animals in the wild. Numbers went from approximately 1,800 at the commencement of the programme, to more than 4,000 during the first 11 golden years of Project Tiger.

A halt in Tiger Project

After Mrs. Gandhi's assassination in 1984 the accuracy of the figures was questioned. It now seems that the true upswing in tiger numbers may have been considerably lower. Pug marks had been too heavily relied on for census counts, and this we now know to be a very inexact method. Concern for their jobs had led some forest officials to artificially inflate the number of tigers under their care; the logic was more tigers meant better job security.

Despite all of this there is little doubt that there was a significant improvement in the situation of the tiger during the best years of Project Tiger.

Alarming Reversal in tiger numbers

Once Mrs. Gandhi was no longer in Government conservation of endangered species assumed a lesser importance. By the end of the 1980s, protections that had been put in place were fraying at the edges:
» Politicians listened more to the local farmers who wanted to clear forests and convert them for agricultural use.
» Buffer zones and access routes were encroached upon and forest areas once more fell to the axe.
» Habitat loss caused a reduction in prey animals. These were also killed by the native people for food.
» Poachers accelerated this loss through snaring, shooting and poisoning. Body parts were illegally exported to China for use in traditional folk medicines.

Along with these things the population of India had increased by 300 million people since the inception of Project Tiger. Livestock numbers rose by 100 million animals. It was almost inevitable that in the face of these renewed threats tigers would once again begin to vanish at an alarming rate.