Deficiencies in tiger enumeration methods, says expert

How can we justify claims that the decline in tiger population has been reversed when various threats to the animal still persist?

Renowned wildlife biologist and tiger expert Ullas Karanth expressed serious reservations about the methodology adopted in the national tiger population estimation exercise. The results were released in Delhi on Monday, as per which the number of tigers across the country had increased from 1411 in 2006, to 1706.

He called for an end to the government monopoly on tiger monitoring, and suggested that outside expertise and resources be harnessed so as to ensure greater reliability, transparency and credibility in monitoring the fate of the national animal.

Responding to the national tiger estimation figures, Dr. Karanth, Director, Centre for Wildlife Studies, said that it was difficult to justify claims that the decline of the tiger population had been reversed when the various threats faced by the animal had not diminished in the last four years. “The full process of how these tiger numbers are generated for individual tiger populations and landscapes has not been made public in a scientifically acceptable manner. Only one scientific paper, which explains only a part of this protocol, has been published in 2011, based on data from the last round of estimation in 2007,” said Dr. Karanth. “I see serious deficiencies in the methodology which has been published.”

In a release, he said the monitoring of tracks by forest guards was not a substitute for more reliable methods of monitoring — using camera traps or DNA sampling — as had already been proven earlier in cases where tigers had vanished despite guards having done similar patrol-based monitoring. “To me the most serious flaw in the present government effort is the basic futility of trying to generate all-India-level tiger counts once in four years, even while ignoring the critical task of intensively monitoring key source populations year after year,” said Dr. Karanth.

CAMERA TRAP METHODS

He said the time had now come to switch from these four-yearly national estimation exercises and focus on intensive camera trap or DNA monitoring of tiger source populations so that one could track the fate of individual tigers, and estimate survival and recruitment rates to gauge how each of these populations was faring.

Citing works done by the Centre for Wildlife Studies, which has monitored tigers rigorously in Karnataka over an area that holds about 15% of the country's tigers, Dr. Karanth said an area of about 3,000 sq. km was camera-trapped every year and more than 100 tigers photographed out of a population of about 250 tigers. “On the basis of these data, we believe that the tiger population in Karnataka is holding out, and even increasing in some areas like Bhadra and Kudremukh thanks to the good work by government and NGOs. We believe that similar intensive monitoring of all key source populations can be easily done to generate similarly useful results across the country. This would not cost more than what the present ‘once-in-four-year' national estimation costs,” he said.

CAUTION

Dr. Karanth cautioned that if there was no shift to such focused, intensive monitoring approaches, the country was at serious risk of losing more and more key populations even as it celebrated supposed ‘increases'. He drew attention to the fact that many reserves had lost most of their tigers despite these national counts in the past decades.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article1579810.ece

Tiger numbers in Maharashtra underestimated? Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN

NAGPUR: Even if number of tigers in Maharashtra has gone up by 66 in latest estimation, experts in state are not happy with the result.

They have questioned the Wildlife Institute of India ( WII) technique of extrapolation on the basis of data collected from a high tiger density area.

In 2006, the tiger occupancy was reported in 4,273 sq km area in Maharashtra. In 2010, it jumped to 10,350 sq km, a two-and-half-times increase.

"Since various threats faced by tigers do not appear to have diminished in last four years, it is difficult to explain the claimed reversal in decline of tigers. Has the forest increased or tigers?" asked Nitin Desai, Central India director for Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiger-numbers-in-state-underestimated/articleshow/7822470.cms

Meet discusses problem of straying tigers TNN

JAIPUR: The problem of tigers straying from the Ranthambore National Park came up for discussion during the on-going International Conference on Tiger Conservation in Delhi. The ministry of forest and environment is to take steps to ensure safety of tigers that stray from Ranthambore.

Usually, tigers straying from the park face threats of being poached or being killed in revenge by villagers staying on the periphery of the park after the big cats feed on their livestock.

The ministry sought suggestions from the state government at the conference to ensure safety of straying tigers. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has announced in his budget speech proposals to develop the area connecting Ranthambore with the Mukundra hills sanctuary as a corridor for tiger movement. The area is frequently used by straying tigers from Ranthambore and developing it would give the big cats a safer passage.

The Ranthambore National Park has been suffering from a problem of plenty for some time now. Though the total area of Ranthambore tiger reserve is about 1,394.478 sq km but about 31 resident tigers are confined to an area of less than 400 sq km of the core area. The rapid multiplication of tigers in the reserve has been posing a bigger problem for foresters.

Recently, two tigers had strayed as far as Mathura while another managed to get away to Madhya Pradesh and finally to the Kuno-palpur area. Currently, at least two ---T2 and T 40 ---have not been seen since October.

"The problem is due to rising population of tigers. The semi-adults find it difficult to chalk out their territory and stray from the sanctuary. Sometimes, tigers also take to fighting among themselves over territory, often resulting in the death of one. The answer may lie in developing other areas of the park like the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary to house the rising number of tigers," sources said.

The Wildlife Institute of India estimation of tigers released on Monday put the number of tigers at Ranthambore at 31. But 12 more cubs have been born between the time the census took place and now bringing up the problem of plenty once again at the park. Tigers are fiercely protective of their territories. A tigress may have a territory of 20 sq km, while the male may cover 40-80 sq km and even more.

The state has deployed a large number of personnel to keep a watch straying tigers. Border home guards, ex-Army personnel, Van Mitras have been deputed for the purpose. For the first time the state has also deployed cadres from the Rajasthan Administrative Service who can speak the local language.

Forest officials are also trying to make more room for tigers by relocating villages located in the forest. "Last year we relocated one village from Ranthambore. This year too we are relocating about 10 villages from the forest and to make room for more tigers," officials said.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Meet-discusses-problem-of-straying-tigers/articleshow/7821533.cms