A small glimmer of hope for wild tigers

[marmar]

NAGARHOLE, India - Herding cats is notoriously difficult, and even counting them presents a challenge. Particularly when they are big cats.

Adding up wild tigers is a major undertaking that the Indian government completed last month after a yearlong $2 million sampling exercise with 470,000 forest foot patrols and 880 hidden cameras.

The count, conducted every four years, estimated that the number of tigers in the wild in India has gone up from 1,411 in 2006 to 1,706. The government is also investigating and reporting their deaths by sending a ranger team accompanied by independent observers every time a tiger carcass is found.

Officials say that tight monitoring measures such as these have helped protect the endangered cat and reduced the chances of fudging the records to inflate the numbers. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_816de854-f832-57c3-9d1d-9be0650f618c.html

[sasha031]

1. good news, what a breathtaking picture