Media reports on tigers’ death are lopsided views: Govt

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has raised its objection to the media reports on tigers’ deaths in the country. In a press note, the Ministry has said reports were published in such a way that presents a lopsided view of the tiger conservation in the country.

According to the Ministry, the reports have sensationalised the issues and tried to sound an alarm which is not true. It has alleged that these reports haven’t taken into account the several positive steps that have been taken for tiger conservation.

The Ministry said, “While it is appreciated that figures as available on the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s website have been used in these reports, the manner in which it has been presented causes alarm and does not take into account the gamut of processes that go into dealing with tiger death in the country and the natural gains that have been made in tiger conservation, as a result of sustained technical and financial interventions by the Government of India.”

“Due to efforts of the Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger has been taken from the brink to an assured path of recovery, which is evident in findings of the quadrennial All India Tiger Estimation conducted in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. These results have shown a healthy annual growth rate of tigers at 6%, which offsets natural losses and keeps tigers at the habitats carrying capacity level, in the Indian context,” it added.

The Ministry is of the view that for the period 2012 to 2021, one can observe that the average tiger deaths per year in the country hover around 98, which is balanced by the annual recruitment as highlighted by this robust growth rate.