Tiger census result to be out on March 26

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) The results of the much-awaited scientific census of tigers, currently underway, will be made public at the end of next month, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said here today. "It is on 26th March," Ramesh said when asked when is the results of the census of the big cat are expected. Tigers are there in "protected areas" -- tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries -- in 19 states in the country. The census is being carried out by installing cameras at strategic points, like water bodies in the forests where the tigers go for water, in their respective territories and a computer analysis is being done to ascertain their presence. Though preliminary analysis of the ongoing census of tigers in the forests indicates that their numbers might have increased, there has been concern over the rise in the cases of man-animal conflict. Forest officials had killed a "man-eater" tiger in January after a half-eaten human body was recovered in Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. A tigress, suspected of killing four women in two weeks, was also shot by hunters in January. The 2007 census had shown a sharp fall in the number of tigers in the country. According to it, India had only 1,411 wild cats left in its forests.