A survey carried out by the Forest and Park Services Department of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2021-22 has found that the current population of adult Bengal Tigers, Panthera tigris tigris, in the country is 131, a 27% increase since the last such survey was carried out in 2015. The species appears to be breeding at different altitudes within the country, suggesting that the increase in population is related to a genuine ecological recovery.
Tigers are currently considered to be Endangered under the terms of terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, with the global population estimated to have declined between 53% and 68% between 1996 and 2014, and a range contraction of more than 50% during the past three generations. Tigers are solitary Big Cats requiring large territories and a supply of suitable prey, ideally Deer or Wild Pigs, to survive. As such they are highly vulnerable to habitat loss, as well as conflict with Humans, as many farmed Animals fall within the prey-size range of Tigers.
Tigers were once found in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, however, they are now extinct in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Pakistan, Singapore, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, and Nepal have implemented rigorous monitoring and conservation plans for Tigers since the last ICUN assessment of the global population in 2015, with Bhutan, India, and Nepal all subsequently reporting rises in their Tiger populations.
The conservation of large predatory Animals such as Tigers is very much dependent on the co-operation of local populations. Tigers are known to take a large number of domestic Animals as prey in Bhutan, but the number of reprisal attacks is surprisingly low. Some of this can be attributed to a culture of respect for nature, however, a survey carried out by the World Wildlife Fund in Trongsa District, which lies entirely within the Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park in the northeast of the country, found that people were concerned by the rise in the Tiger population, citing fears about livestock losses, and reporting that living close to the Big Cats is in itself stressful. The government of Bhutan has established Tiger Conservation Committees in several parts of the country, to encourage stewardship of the species, manage Human-Tiger conflicts, and provide livestock insurance, and the World Wildlife Fund is urging the government to set up more such committees, as well as planning to carry out similar surveys in other parts of the country.
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