BENGALURU: Even as Karnataka has shown a rise in tiger population when compared to 2018, experts and officials in the forest department question the methodology and numbers reported by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
As per the tiger estimate reports released by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Karnataka has 563 tigers, while Madhya Pradesh has 785. Karnataka government officials said they have the list of unique numbers of all tigers camera trapped in the state. The report released by the Karnataka forest department on July 27, in Bengaluru, by Minister of Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar B Khandre documented 435 tigers using the camera trap method.
“We wonder how Madhya Pradesh has shown such a rise in numbers. There are also anomalies in the tiger count. As per the report, Nagarhole has 141, but our assessment documented 149. Similarly, Kali documented 19 tigers in our camera trap records, but NTCA shows 17. We will re-look our and their data,” said a forest department official. The official said the average growth rate, in all types of species, can increase by 10- 20%. However, in MP it peaked exponentially by 49%. Therefore, data from all states should be made available for each other to evaluate and inform.
Experts also questioned the assessment of NTCA. As per the observations and report, the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) rating all the five tiger reserves of Karnataka has slated as excellent and their score is above 90%. But that is not reflected in the tiger numbers and in the outcome.