Let the numbers spur action

NEW DELHI, Feb 13

The tiger census in the country shows alarming decline in the number of tigers in India. With their total population winding up at 1411 with a 17.43 per cent coefficient of variation, the ministry has decided to take substantial steps. "The Tiger Project explained that the tiger has suffered due to direct poaching, loss of quality habitat and loss of prey,' said Rajesh Gopal, member secretary of the project, while making a presentation in the capital today. "But there is still hope.'

India has lost more than 50 per cent of its tiger population in the past five years with the numbers dwindling to 1,411 from 3,642 in 2001-02, according to the latest tiger census report. The "State of tiger, co-predators and prey in India' report, released here on Tuesday, said there had been an overall decrease in the tiger population except in Tamil Nadu where the numbers have gone up substantially from 60 in 2001-02 to 76.

Bali Island, Feb. 11: British high commissioner Richard Stagg yesterday inaugurated a mangrove project in the Sunderbans to combat global warming in the tiger reserve. The British deputy high commission in Calcutta, in collaboration with an NGO, will develop the mangrove forest along half a square kilometre of the riverbank in Bali Island, 200km from Calcutta. The deputy high commission is funding the project, estimated to cost around

a tiger cub went missing from the Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, in early November. Officials of the Rajasthan Forest Department are still looking for the cub. Villagers in the