India’s ‘Project Tiger’ has been a huge success, resulting in a significant increase in the number of big cats. Now, the Indian government is considering relocating some of these tigers to Cambodia, where they have become extinct. The last sighting of a tiger in Cambodia was in 2007. In November of last year, India and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to reintroduce tigers to Cambodia.
S P Yadav, member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, said that the translocation of tigers to Cambodia is being considered, although it has never been done before in India. The authorities are currently examining the situation in Cambodia to determine if tiger translocation is feasible. The authorities are also looking into whether the factors that led to the extinction of tigers in Cambodia have been addressed.
The 50th anniversary of Project Tiger is coming up next month, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend a conference in Mysore to commemorate the occasion. The latest tiger census data for 2022 will also be released during the event. Experts suggest that the tiger population in India may have exceeded 3,500, thanks to the six percent annual growth observed in recent years. This is a remarkable achievement, given that there were only 1,411 tigers in India in 2006, following the disappearance of tigers in the Sariska reserve.
India now harbors 70 percent of the global population of tigers, a significant improvement since the protection programs were stepped up following the decline in the tiger population. Indian officials are now considering the translocation of tigers to Cambodia to help reestablish the tiger population in that country.
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