Bangalore: It is highly unlikely that the new tiger census will point to an increase in their numbers, according to Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India.
“If we do not secure inviolate spaces for tigers — spaces without human habitation, roads canals, transmission lines — we are endangering them,” Ms. Wright told presspersons after the screening of a documentary, “The Truth about Tigers”, here on Saturday.
The last all-India tiger survey in 2008 revealed that there were 1,411 tigers left in the wild.
Poaching has been on the rise, and in 2009, 32 poaching cases had been recorded, a marked increase from the previous three years, she said.
“This year, we have recorded 16 tiger deaths and we are only in March,” she said. However, south Indian States, including Karnataka, fare better than the northern States, where poachers operate in highly organised groups, Ms. Wright added. “There is not a single person who would not agree that tigers should be protected, she said. “The question is how. It is time to think out of the box,” she added.