Global Tiger Day that is celebrated on July 29 every year
How India’s Conservationists Are Fighting to Save Half of the World’s Tigers
In the run-up to Global Tiger Day that is celebrated on July 29 every year, this year, several events had been organised to raise awareness amongst the younger generation. For much of the last century, the tiger’s future hasn’t been so bright: in their native Asian habitats, tigers face poaching, unchecked deforestation, increased human encroachment and disappearing prey. But recent national and international programs have helped the species find some footing. In 2010, 13 Asian nations that are home to tigers, including India, joined together in the Global Tiger Recovery Program, pledging to double the global tiger populationby 2022 — the next Year of the Tiger per the Chinese horoscope. The group also decided to annually mark July 29 as Global Tiger Day.
India’s track record with tiger populations has been encouraging. Numbers have steadily risen in census reports since 2006 with the 2014 survey finding an estimated 2,226 wild tigers across the country. The 2018 All India Tiger Estimation is currently underway and is said to be the world’s largest wildlife survey in terms of “coverage, intensity of sampling and quantum of camera trapping.”
The National Tiger Conservation Authority, along with conservation partners held a week-long celebration to mark the Global Tiger Day in a series of events starting from July 25, 2018 at National Zoological Park, Delhi. The culmination of the celebration will be held on July 29, 2018 at National Zoological Park, New Delhi.
In 2010, at St Petersburg, Russia, the heads of Governments of Tiger Range states which inter alia include India, resolved to strive to double the number of wild tigers (T X 2) across their global range by 2022 and signed the St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation, which decided to celebrate July 29 as Global Tiger Day. India has significantly contributed to this target and has resolved to safeguard tiger habitat and source populations to foster viable tiger population during the Global Stock Taking meeting held in 2012 at New Delhi to review progress vis-a-vis the St Petersburg Declaration.
India had launched Project Tiger in 1973 to conserve tigers. Till now, the coverage of “Project Tiger” has increased from 9 reserves to 50 tiger reserves spread across 18 states
Historical account
The striped cat has been a part of India’s culture for as long as anyone can remember. The warrior goddess Durga is often depicted riding one. Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, cast the tiger as the villain in his famous collection of stories, perhaps inspired by the creatures that roamed his birthplace of Mumbai (then called Bombay) in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kings across India hunted the tiger for its prized coat and bragging rights.
That trend worsened under British Crown rule beginning in the late 1800s. Long lines of elephants would carry sahibs and wealthy Indians through dense forests on hunting expeditions. King George V reportedly killed 39 tigers in 10 days while traveling through India to Nepal in 1911. Poaching soon became another menace that contributed to the tiger’s disappearance. By some estimates, tiger numbers dropped from between 50,000 to 100,000 at the end of the 19th century to just 1,800 at the start of 1970s.
Around that time Prime Minister Indira Gandhi became aware of the plight of the tiger. She set up Project Tiger, a government program to protect the animal, and in 1973 and created reserves throughout India with rangers to patrol them. Since then, the big cat has seen a steady revival. Some reports suggest that the final findings of the ongoing national census, to be released in January 2019, could put the population at more than 3,000 across 50 reserves. It’s a good start, though multiple threats remain.