Save tiger ecosystem, says conservationist Dr Ullas Karanth

Mangaluru (Karnataka), Aug 8 (PTI) Well known tiger researcher and conservationist Dr Ullas Karanth on Thursday said that India, having such vast land resources, must ideally move towards enlarging the tiger ecosystem to reach a population of 15,000 of the big cats as against 3,000 presently.

He was delivering a special lecture for Indian National Trust for Cultural Heritage (INTACH) here today.

Presently the rate of growth of the tiger population is just 1 per cent in the country "which is nothing spectacular" for a country with so many resources and a fine range of forest and wildlife promotional machinery, headed by the MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests) and the state forest departments, Karanth said.

The vision for 15,000 tigers must be fortified with the protection of tiger habitats, and many degenerated tiger habitats around the country must be revived with policy initiatives such as sustainable landscapes, steps towards responsible wildlife tourism, and conservation methods — protection of biomass and eradication of the market for wildlife artefacts, he observed Due to the pressure of human population and the demand for forest products, the global market has entered forests, which is retrograde development, he said. The increased expansion of agriculture and livestock grazing areas in up to 40 per cent of actual forest cover in the country had a telling effect on wildlife conservation, Karanth stated.

However, Karanth quipped with a certain degree of wit and hope saying, “Wildlife tourism has enhanced the interest of people in wildlife particularly the tiger, which goes to show that people are interested in tigers in their natural habitats which can be transformed in due course -- a theatre for conservation of tigers” Speaking of how tigers historical have been a part of Indian culture, Dr Karanth said, "The Hulivesha of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, the Huliappa deity in tribal areas of Karnataka and Gonda Tiger worship in North India are proof of the tiger being an integral part of Indian culture. PTI CORR AMP AMP ANE