Speaking at the national workshop on monitoring systems for tigers intensive patrolling and ecological status, Y V Jhalla, a principal scientist of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said the six per cent increase in the population of big cates was due to several measures taken to protect them.
The recent count of the big cat has revealed that around 2,200 Royal Bengal Tigers and 7,910 leopards are present in 13 tiger reserves in the country, he said, adding it was determined through camera trap method now in use.
The workshop, organised by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), was mainly held for interaction on preservation of Royal Bengal Tigers considering the challenges faced by different tiger reserve authorities.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Odisha, Siddhanta Das said the preservation of the big cat family was necessary for the existence of mankind as without the presence of the tigers in the forest, air, moisture, perennial water sources would vanish, causing ecological disaster.
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India, he said, topped the list in the world for maximum funding for the preservation of tigers.
Apart from Similipal reserve, villages located inside
the protected forests in Odisha would be relocated without using any force against the villagers as per a policy decision by the Odisha Government, the PCCF said.
A total of 169 villages and 11,188 families had been relocated across the nation from forest areas to pave away for smoother movement of wildlife, Jhalla said.
Unless the tiger conservation in Similipal sanctuary was properly taken up, the animal would perish like at Sariska tiger reserve, he added.