Indian Tiger Park Now Tiger-Free

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 15, 2009 @03:01PM from the In-the-forests-of-the-night dept.

Panna National Park is now officially tiger free making it the second Indian tiger sanctuary to no longer have a tiger population. A census was conducted in the park, after authorities reported no Bengal Tiger sightings for a long time. Three years ago the park had a population of 24 tigers; however, none were found this year. Forest minister Rajendra Shukla is optimistic about the news and says, "Panna is our only park which has lost on this count. Three of state's reserve forests — Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench — have been adjudged among the best managed tiger reserves in the country."

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ridiculous by nixish · 2009-07-15 18:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

poaching is rampant there and i would not be surprised if some of the park officials are in on it. However, that's not the real cause. The real cause would be its demand in primarily oriental countries like China, Vietnam etc where they use tiger meat and bones (I think every part of their body) for medicinal/spiritual purposes. I think the open border into India's Himalayan neighbor Nepal has also affected Nepal's own tiger and rhino population. Hope the NGO's and the government clamps down these poachers. I am not sure what the remedy to the demand from the Oriental countries is besides Education and stricter rules about imports of the remains of these Endangered species.