CHENNAI: Tigers are thriving and their population has increased by 3.5 times since 2006 in Tamil Nadu. The fourth cycle of national tiger status assessment of 2018-19 shows that there were 76 tigers in 2006 and now the number has ballooned to 264. This is a remarkable jump. Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, Chief Wildlife Warden, told Express that this is partly because, in 2006 tiger census, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) was not surveyed.
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“STR was declared as sanctuary in 2008 and after tiger presence was noticed in 2009-10, it was upgraded to a tiger reserve in 2013. But still, Tamil Nadu’s tiger conservation efforts are paying rich dividends. Mudumalai has highest concentration of tigers.
”Tamil Nadu’s Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) score is second-best in the country. Only Kerala scored higher rating. The mean MEE score of the State is 82.03%, an aggregate of the four tiger reserves, while Kerala scored 90.23%.
All 50 tiger reserves in India were evaluated through MEE framework, which takes into account several factors like biotic interference, adequacy of trained personnel, threat abatement, village relocation planning, population trends of endangered species, effectiveness of public participation, integration of landscape, habitat restoration, mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts, population trends of tiger, State government funding etc, while calculating the score.
All four tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu were rated as ‘very good’ with Anamalai tiger reserve scoring highest MEE score of 89.06%, while Kalakad-Mundanthurai scored 83.59%, Sathyamangalam 79.69% and Mudumalai 75.78%. Overall, Western Ghats landscape comprising of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa has 981 tigers out of total 2,967 in India.
Management weaknesses & actionable points
However, the report has also highlighted several management weaknesses and immediate actionable points for each of the tiger reserves. The major issue was posted vacancy of 50-60% in all the reserves. But, forest officials said in last one year over 1,000 frontline staff like guards and watchers were recruited.