On the occasion of Global Tiger Day, the Government of Nepal released the results of its tiger census, which had the encouraging news that tiger population had gone up by 63 percent over four years. The tiger and prey-base survey was a collaborative effort of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Department of Forests, WWF Nepal and National Trust for Nature Conservation.
In the four years after the last national tiger census, only regional tiger censuses had been carried out. All of these had showed an increase in the number of tigers, but this conclusion had come under fire from skeptics. But finally, the national census has confirmed the good news. This has been possible due to tougher action on poachers, increase in conservation areas where tigers can thrive, and active involvement of conservation professionals. [break]
Informal surveys often come out with the results that tigers are our favorite animals, which may be the reason why they are often the icons of conservation. Already, celebrities like Leonardo Dicaprio and Rajesh Hamal lend their glamour to make tigers even more popular. As a result, there is a lot of funding as well as concern for tigers. In contrast, the Ghariyal, a species of crocodile 20 times more endangered than tigers but not half as pretty, does not even get a fraction of the funding.
Countries where tigers are found had agreed, in 2010, to make an effort to double the number of tigers by 2022. No such commitments have been made for the ghariyal. The Great Pied Hornbill and White Stork, both endangered birds, similarly languish from lack of attention. July 29 is celebrated as a day to raise awareness of tiger conservation, but there is no day to remind us of hispid hares. As a result, we do not know that there are only 110 hispid hares in the world, or even that such an animal exists. Or take the case of bats.
They are very important to ecological balance in residential areas, because they consume mosquitoes, and their unique upside down deportment helps pollinate many flowers. Conservationists care about wild animals, but only a few bat enthusiasts care about the dwindling of these flying mammals that do not classify as wildlife in Nepal.
We congratulate the government agencies, organizations, and conservation professionals of Nepal who have made the increase in tiger population possible. But this is not the time to rest on our laurels. Nepal is rapidly losing its biodiversity to deforestation and poaching. This is the time to continue the good work and highlight other animals which are in need of conservation.
Conducting a tiger census is hard work. Professionals labor for hours in harsh outdoors to identify the signs of tigers, operate sensitive GPS instruments to record locations, fix cameras at appropriate heights, and monitor the cameras. Controlling poaching is just as hard, what with the extremely high rewards for poaching, but it has been done in Nepal by taking the local communities into confidence.
But the success of tiger conservation has proved that with enough effort, wildlife can be conserved. If countries made a commitment to similarly conserve ghariyals, for instance, or the hispid hare, they too can be accomplished in time. Let us hope that in future, more endangered species can be brought back from the brink of extinction, like tigers.
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