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Number of tigers surges in Nepal

Tess de la MarePress Association
In 2009, Nepal had just 121 adult tigers but the latest count reveals the number has reached 355. (EPA PHOTO)
Camera IconIn 2009, Nepal had just 121 adult tigers but the latest count reveals the number has reached 355. (EPA PHOTO) Credit: EPA

The number of wild tigers in Nepal has more than doubled to 355 during the past 12 years following an intensive conservation program, the country's government has announced.

Nepal was one of a number of countries that set a target at a summit in St Petersburg in Russia in 2010 of doubling their wild tiger numbers.

The Himalayan nation is the first country to reveal its numbers, with the news coinciding with the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar.

The results were announced on Friday following an extensive survey covering 49,000 square kilometres, which is 12 per cent of Nepal's land.

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The National Tiger and Prey Survey 2022 was carried out with the support of the Nepalese arm of international wildlife charity WWF.

The survey took 16,811 days of field time from ecologists, and adult tigers were identified through their unique stripe pattern, WWF said.

In 2009, Nepal had just 121 adult tigers, but following the St Petersburg summit, it began a program to protect key habitats and the corridors of land between them.

It included the Khata Forest Conservation Area, which links Nepal to tiger territory in India.

It carried out population assessments every four years, with the latest count revealing the number has reached 355, a figure that excludes juveniles and cubs.

As well as cracking down on the illegal wildlife trade, conservationists worked with local communities, including launching a compensation scheme to replace livestock killed by tigers.

Other initiatives have included assistance to reduce local people's reliance on firewood, WWF said, and to help them reap the benefits of tourism so they had less need to resort to poaching and illegal logging.

To combat poaching, a number of government and community-based anti-poaching groups were set up.

This strategy has also benefited rhinos, with their numbers climbing 16 per cent from 645 to 752 between 2015 and 2021.

WWF-UK senior adviser Becci May said Nepal's commitment to reducing poaching and protecting tigers was inspirational and could serve as a model for conservation elsewhere.

"Sadly, despite success stories like Nepal, tigers are still the most threatened big cat species globally, reduced to just five per cent of their historic range," she said.

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