Population of tigers in the Sunderbans on the rise

The tigers in Sunderbans in Bengal seem to be doing well because, for the first time, a data-collection exercise has revealed that the population of these swamp tigers is on the rise even outside the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) which is a protected area.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 8 September 2016.

As revealed by the camera trap data of 2015 - the latest set of numbers thrown up by the yearly exercise - the presence of at least 22 tigers in the South 24-Parganas forest division has been confirmed. This is spread out over an area of more than 1,500sq km and is outside the 2,500sq km of the protected area.
The 2016 exercise has been taken up and is still under way but, going by trends and field reports, the authorities appear to be confident that the population of the big cat is very much stable.
Incidentally, the camera traps have caught the images of four cubs outside the STR - this figure has not been included in the figure of 22 and can be interpreted as a pointer to the fact that areas outside the core zone have a good population of tigers that are breeding well.
The first camera-trap exercise in this zone was carried out in 2012 and it had recorded at least 18 tigers. Out of the current lot, 11 were found in the Raidighi zone, nine in Ramganga and two in Herobhanga.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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