One of nature's most amazing predators, the tiger, is now the hunted in India, where 35 per cent of its global population lives.
There were just 3,642 of them left in the country, according to the 2001-2002 census. Experts believe that number has now halved. Even the government has admitted its failure to protect wildlife.
Sample this: the tiger count in Ranthambhore, one of the best-known tiger sanctuaries in the country, fell from 47 to 26 in less than two years. In Buxa, West Bengal, the tiger census has counted four so far. Last time it was in the twenties.
But then, statistics themselves can be a smokescreen in the jungles where the big cats roam free, or rather, used to roam free.
Never mind that most of the poaching cartels are notoriously famous. Never mind that there are only 29 tiger reserves in the country.
In a country where people are uprooted to make way for the wheels of progress, who will spare a thought about tigers?
What made you angry in 2006? Tell us!
Image: A royal Bengal tiger awaiting treatment for broken teeth at a Kolkata zoo.
Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 411 tigers vanished in five years: Centre
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