The number of tigers have increased all over the State including the Simlipal wildlife sanctuary. Interestingly, not a cow-hunt or man hunt by any tiger has been reported in the Similipal Tiger Reserves over the last two years. Neither has any visitor seen any tiger in the reserve forest area during this time. This has raised questions on the credentials of the authorities.

However, addressing a Press conference on Thursday , PCCF and Chief Wild Life Warden SC Mohanty said while there were only 17 tigers in 1972 in the Simlipal Sanctuary, the number of tigers has gone up to 101 in 2004, making it one of the most impressive growth rates under Project Tiger. In the 2004 census, in addition to the tigers, 127 leopards were also counted taking the total of these two species to 228. The practice of mass hunting by tribals or akhanda sikaar has almost ceased since 2003-04.

Mohanty said the Switzerland-based International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in its report has also appreciated Simlipal's conservation policy. The study carried out in the 28 tiger reserves in India across 17 States is based on a scoring system of 45 relevant parameters. It is ranked seventh among the 28 tiger reserves of the country he added.

Mohanty also added that the Simlipal tiger was going to face the camera for the first time. The photographs of the tigers would be taken under the new methodology adopted all over the country in tiger census since 2005. A camera trap team from the Wild life Institute of India was currently in Simlipal for the purpose.

The counting of tigers by the modern method would be completed by the end of 2007. Before this anyone making any statement that the tiger population was declining, does not deserve any stamp of authority, he added.