Project Tiger

Project Tiger was launched in 1973 in India. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tiger in their natural habitats and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage for the people. The selection of areas for the reserves represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the tiger's distribution in the country. The project's task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would emigrate to adjacent forests. Funds and commitment were mustered to support the intensive program of habitat protection and rehabilitation under the project. The government has set-up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, and funded the relocation of up to 200,000 villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

During the tiger census of 2008, a new methodology was used extrapolating site-specific densities of tigers, their co-predators and prey derived from camera trap and sign surveys using GIS. Based on the result of these surveys, the total tiger population has been estimated at 1,411 individuals ranging from 1,165 to 1,657 adult and sub-adult tigers of more than 1.5 years of age.