Nepal’s government announced this week on International Tiger Day that its tiger population has increased 64% since the last survey in 2009 according to The Independent on July 31. The survey showed an increase among those tigers living in Nepal’s state parks to an estimated 198. Just 121 wild tigers lived in Nepal in 2009, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Experts attributed the rise to a crackdown on poaching as the government vowed to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022. The count was conducted is a 600-mile stretch of protected land in Nepal and India called the Terai Arc Landscape, where tigers roam free. The two countries signed a resolution in 2010 to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking to protect the endangered species. “Tigers are a part of Nepal’s natural wealth and we are committed to ensuring these magnificent wild cats have the prey, protection and space to thrive,” stated Megh Bahadur Pandey, director of Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. The effort included more than 260 wildlife experts, around 500 cameras that took images covering 1,870 square miles of tiger habitat, and 7,699 tiger images. The survey was conducted from February through June 2013 with a cost of 35 million rupees ($367,955). The WWF warned that tigers worldwide are in serious danger of becoming extinct in the wild. Poaching remains the biggest threat to the big cats due to illegal demand for tiger parts in Asia, the WWF noted. Bengal tigers are also found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar. Fewer than 2,500 exist in the wild, according to the WWF.
