Nepal’s tigers are doing gr-r-reat.
The country’s tiger population has grown to 235 from 121 in 2009, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The significant growth is giving hope to the rest of the world that animal conservation efforts can succeed and save animals from the brink of extinction.
If their success continues, Nepal will be on track to become the first country to double its tiger population under the WWF’s TX2 goal. The goal, implemented in 2010, aims to double the world’s tiger population.
Only about 3,200 tigers remained in the wild in 2010, with poaching and habitat loss killing off nearly 95 percent of the world’s population.
WWF hopes to bring the number of tigers around the globe to 6,000 or more by 2022 — the next year of the tiger in the Chinese calendar.
“Every tiger counts, for Nepal and for the world,” Dr. Ghana S Gurung, WWF’s country representative for Nepal, said in a press release. “While Nepal is but a few tigers away from our goal to double tiger numbers by 2022, it also underscores the continued need to ensure protection and improved and contiguous habitats for the long-term survival of the species.”
Nepal counted tigers between November 2017 and April 2018 as part of the country’s national tiger survey, which tracked the animals in the Terai Arc Landscape — a network of protected ecosystems throughout Nepal and India. The last survey was conducted in 2013 and estimated 198 tigers.
The country’s success is being attributed to both the government’s commitment to the global goal, as well as cooperation from local communities. Efforts included building corridors to connected protected habitats, identifying and helping to conserve the animal’s prey and introducing incentives for local communities to report poaching activity.
“This significant increase in Nepal’s tiger population is proof that when we work together, we can save the planet’s wildlife – even species facing extinction,” Leonardo DiCaprio, who sits on the WWF board, said in a statement. DiCaprio’s personal foundation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, has funded tiger conservation in Nepal’s Bardia National Park.
In addition to Nepal, there are 12 other tiger range countries, including India — which has the largest population at 2,226 — Russia, Bangladesh and Malaysia. As of 2016, Vietnam had fewer than seven tigers and China had fewer than five. All have dedicated themselves to reaching the 2022 goal.