After a century of constant decline, global wild tiger populations are on the rise! According to the most recent data, around 3,890 tigers now exist in the wild—up from an estimated 3,200 in 2010.
We can attribute this updated minimum number—compiled from national tiger surveys—to rising tiger populations in India, Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan; improved surveys; and enhanced protection of this iconic species.
“This is a pivotal step in the recovery of one of the world’s most endangered and iconic species,” said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation at WWF. “Together with governments, local communities, philanthropists, and other NGOs, we’ve begun to reverse the trend in the century-long decline of tigers. But much more work and investment is needed if we are to reach our goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022.”
Saving tigers is about more than restoring a single species. As a large predator, tigers play an important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Every time we protect a tiger, we protect around 25,000 acres of forest—forests that sustain wildlife and local communities and supply people around the world with clean air, water, food, and products.
Bringing tigers back from the brink takes commitment on a global scale. Faced with this challenge, tiger-range countries took a stand and set an ambitious species conservation goal: double the number of wild tigers by 2022—the next Year of the Tiger. The goal is called Tx2.
By saving tigers, we show the world that conservation and development can go hand in hand. Tx2 is a model of conservation for other species too. And it protects natural resources, contributing to a positive future for people, for wildlife, and the planet.
In hopes to repopulate their forest with tigers (now extinct in Cambodia), the Royal Government of Cambodia plans to get their hands on two male tigers and five to six female tigers from India.
The tigers will be put in a vast region of protected forests in the Eastern Plain Fields of Cambodia.
Eight tigers from India – six females and two males – would be translocated to Cambodia where the big cats have been declared extinct. The Indian tigers would be “re-introduced” in two different locations in Cambodia over the next five years.
See full article & photo credit.
See November 2015 article on nations’ pledge to double tigers by 2022.
See April 10, 2016 article on Cambodia’s planned reintroduction of tigers
See April 15 India Today article on transfer of Indian tigers to Cambodia.