Bhopal, Dec 12: Tiger population is declining due to habitat destruction and illegal poaching. The Government of India had passed a Wild Life (Protection) Act in 1972 to control the illegal poaching and trade of wild life. It was said by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Madhya Pradesh AP Dwivedi at a lecture programme here on Tuesday.

As part of Save Tiger Campaign, the Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), which is situated at Paryavaran Parisar, E-5, Arera Colony, Bhopal organised a guest lecture programme on Tuesday. Dwivedi delivered lecture on the subject of 'Tiger Census'. He explained that tiger population was declining due to habitat destruction and illegal poaching. He said that the Royal Bengal Tiger was found only in Indian Subcontinent. According to him, at the beginning of twentieth century population of Royal Bengal Tiger was approximate 40,000 but due to man-made crisis their number dwindled to only 2000 by 1970.

He said that due to the drastic decline of tiger population Government of India had passed Wild Life (Protection) Act in 1972 to control the illegal poaching and trade of wild life. Hunting of tigress was easier than the hunting of tiger because tigress lived in a fixed area to care for her cubs. Around twenty-eight tiger reserves were there in India to protect this Royal Bengal Tiger from poachers and smugglers. According to him, tiger may disappear by 2050 if our present activities would not stop hunting, illegal poaching etc. The tiger was the symbol of the forest health therefore we should know the tigers presence and its population in the forest.

While further elaborating the census, Dr Dwivedi shared various technologies were present to count the tiger population such as pugmark, camera trap method etc. He pointed out that the forest guard was the key of the forest department, who was looking ten-square kilometer area of a forest. Wherever he noticed any pugmark of tiger, he took the trace of pugmark on a tracing paper and he submitted these pug mark traces to the forester.

These channel pugmark traces reach the higher authority of the forest department, where analysis is done by experts and they can estimate the number of tigers in that particular forest. Dr Dwivedi said that Plaster of Paris cast was also used for taking the impression of pugmark, which was also useful for tiger census. He cautioned that if soil of forest was not suitable to take the pug marks, the Pug Impression Pad (PIP) was more useful to get the impression of pug mark.

He indicated that advanced method of tiger census was Trial Transit Trap and Testing (TTTT), in which forest guard observed the presence of tiger as well as presence of herbivores, if both were present then they fix the camera at tiger's pathway to take the photograph of tigers. He told that fecal matter of tiger could be collected and DNA fingerprint should be analyzed for perfect tiger census.

Manoj Kumar Sharma, Taxidermist, Coordinator of Save Tiger Exhibition introduced the chief guest for the lecture 'Tiger Census'. The teachers and students of MVM, Bhopal and general visitors participated in the lecture programme. Prabal Roy, Project Coordinator of Regional Science Centre, Bhopal, Dr Neeraj Shrivastava and others were also present. The programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Manik Lal Gupta, Educational Assistant of RMNH.