Chitwan: As the tiger population increases in Nepal, its habitat area has to be expanded. Although the park areas, buffer zones, and other forest areas are the habitat of tigers, the problem of shrinking tiger habitat has been observed in recent years as the number of tigers has increased.
According to National News Agency Nepal, speaking at an interaction programme organised by Chitwan National Park, Haribhadra Acharya, senior ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, stressed the need to increase the habitat for tigers. He noted that the number of tigers has been increasing over the last five years, indicating a need to expand the habitat. Acharya suggested that the establishment of open zoos could protect the tigers and also serve as a source of income generation.
The tiger population in Nepal has grown from 121 in 2009 to 355 in 2022. In previous years, the population was recorded at 198 in 2013 and 253 in 2018. Acharya highlighted that the increase in the number of tigers has resulted in a 93 percent reduction in habitat area.
In recent years, conservation efforts have contributed to the rising number of tigers in Nepal. Acharya mentioned that the forest area in the country could support around 500 tigers, with approximately 404 tigers potentially living in the core areas of the parks. He also pointed out that the main prey for tigers is deer species, but they also hunt monkeys and domestic animals for food.
Acharya reminded that around 100 years ago, there were about 100,000 tigers globally, but that number has drastically decreased to around 5,000 today.