Tiger Deaths Hit Century: It’s Time To Save Them

29 July that is celebrated as International Tiger Day every year is a day celebrated globally to raise awareness for tiger conservation. It was created in 2010 at the Tiger Summit. The goal of the day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise public awareness and support for tiger conservation issues.
So many rules and laws have been passed to save our wildlife from getting endangered and even extinct. But I don’t think it has been so effective. In 2018, for the third year in a row, India has recorded a count of at least 100 tiger deaths. The reason for the deaths ranges from natural deaths, poaching to electrocution and poisoning. Saving tigers must be our one of Indians duty, common people can’t do much in this but can aware people about this. India is currently a home to about 70 percent of the global tiger population but the population of the endangered animal is threatened due to factors like developmental pressure leading to habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict. Though India has managed to substantially increase the number of tiger population which had plummeted to 1411 in 2006, experts argue that a lot still needs to be done to maintain this momentum.
According to reports of 2019, the number of deaths was less as compared to previous year but it still hit a century. According to the official data of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the country’s nodal body is working on welfare and protection of tigers and at least 100 tiger deaths were recorded in 2018.
Of the 100 tiger death cases, 93 were of mortality and seven of seizures, which are cases where a tiger is presumed dead on the basis of the body parts seized by authorities. In 69 cases, the exact cause of the death is yet to be ascertained as investigation details are awaited.
The state of Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 27 tiger deaths and was followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. Together, the three states accounted for 61 percent of the total tiger deaths in the country in 2018. If we take out the estimate of last 4 years we can notice that a total of 418 tigers died which means on an average eight tigers died every month for the past four years. India is currently a home to about 70 percent of the global tiger population and has 50 tiger reserves.
We have come a long way in tiger preservation but these reports suggest that there are yet more to be done!!

By: Prerana Sharma
Content: https://india.mongabay.com/2019/01/tiger-deaths-hit-the-100-mark-again-but-number-down-from-previous-year/