New Delhi: Ahead of the release of the much-awaited tiger estimation results, wildlife experts and officials are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that a "positive outcome" will help formulate better policies towards conservation of the country''s dwindling wildlife resources.
The second all-India tiger estimation study carried out in the designated 39 tiger reserves across the country will be released on Monday by Minister of Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh, who had already expressed hope of a positive result this time.
Wildlife experts and officials involved in the tiresome process of counting the wild cats said the results this time are expected to be better than the 2007 census, which claimed that only 1,411 wild cats are left in the country''s forests.
"We have worked very hard this time and it should yield in some good news," said Y V Jhala, senior wildlife biologist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehra Dun.
"I am not authorised to divulge the details of the final estimates, but I can certainly say that the results will be positive," Jhala told.
A senior official privy to the estimation process said the numbers are likely to go up as figures from Sundarbans that was left out last time have also also been added this time.
"Also, no big fluctuations in tiger populations were found in major tiger habitats across the country. And moreover, the numbers from the southern belt are quite encouraging. These are indicators of a positive census," he said, requesting not to be named.
Echoing similar views, Anil Kumar Singh of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said the overall counting process has been "very encouraging" and it would result in some new and good policies towards the conservation of the big cats.
Singh and his team have participated in the tiger enumeration exercise in four places such as Valmki tiger reserve in Bihar, Achanankmar wildlife sanctuary in Chhattisgarh and Dudhwa and Kishanpur tiger reserves in Uttar Pradesh.
Belinda Wright, founder of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), however, said tigers are "elusive and difficult to see", so the methods being used to count them can give only an estimate. "They cannot give a digit-accurate figure for the number of wild tigers in India."
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