3,682 Tigers, and Three Reserves With None: India Rewrites the Map

Article summary

Marking eighteen years since tigers were reintroduced into Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan — described as the world's first successful scientific reintroduction into a landscape where the species had become locally extinct — the central government has released reports setting out a roadmap for India's struggling tiger reserves. The aggregate picture is strong: the national population rose from 1,411 in 2006 to 3,682 in 2022, growing at roughly 6 per cent a year across 58 reserves covering about 85,000 sq km. The distribution is not. Between ten and twelve reserves account for around 36 per cent of all tigers, twelve reserves hold fewer than three tigers each, and three — Kawal, Kamlang and Dampa — hold none at all, with Dampa the only reserve to record zero in both the 2018 and 2022 estimations. The roadmap identifies 25 priority reserves for habitat recovery, prey base restoration, security strengthening and, where necessary, targeted reintroduction. The underlying framework is the distinction between source populations such as Corbett, Bandipur and Kaziranga, which produce surplus animals, and depleted sites such as Sariska, Panna, Satkosia and Mukundara Hills, which can receive them — with genetic exchange between them the long-term objective.