The tiger's land

Save tigers save so much more

Tiger numbers are finally on the rise after decades of constant decline. With the combined efforts of conservationists, local communities, and the government, tiger habitats are being maintained and restored. The conservation of these striped predators has much broader implications for the survival of many other species within their habitat and range.

On the 29th of July in 2010, all 13 tiger range countries adopted the declaration to double the tiger population within 12 years. Since then, the day has been marked as Global Tiger Day.

WWF-India has had its boots on the ground for the last 50 years to protect this icon of India's natural and cultural heritage.

WWF-India’s work

WWF India’s work for tiger conservation aims to maintain and restore tiger habitats and critical corridors while conserving the tiger and its prey, eventually increasing and stabilising tiger populations.

Our work involves camera-trapping exercises and line-transect monitoring in all its tiger landscapes to monitor tigers, co-predators and prey base. We also work closely with local communities around tiger habitats to mitigate human-tiger conflict issues.

50-YEAR TIGER JOURNEY

1972

Introduction of the Wildlife Protection Act, enacted to protect plants and animal species. Before this, India only had five designated national parks.

1973

Introduction of Project Tiger- This aimed to ensure a viable population of the Bengal tiger in its natural habitats, protect it from extinction, and preserve areas of biological importance as a natural heritage representing the diversity of ecosystems.

2003

Conservation reserves and community reserves were created under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 as amended in 2003. These reserves are created with the following two-fold objectives: Legal backing to community-initiated efforts to protect flora and fauna. Limited interference in activities of local communities so that their needs are met.

2006

Amendment of Wildlife Protection Act for creation of further tiger reserves, creation of WCCB and NTCA, following a recommendation of the tiger Task Force.

The first Tiger Census of 2006 projected 1,411 tigers were left in the country.

2008

On June 28, 2008, the first male tiger, airlifted from Ranthambhore in an Indian Air Force MI-17 and released in the one-hectare enclosure at Nayapani (Sariska) as a part of the relocation process. The moment of 1.12 pm went into history as the Tiger- ST 1, set its first pugmark in the ‘Tigerless’ Tiger Reserve for a long 3.5 years. He was joined by his paramour ST2.

NTCA declared the creation of ‘Special Tiger Protection Force’ (STPF).

2009

The Panna Tiger Reserve started the Tiger Reintroduction Project. This initiative was taken with 7 tigers -- 5 females and 2 males that were brought from Kanha and Bandhavgarh, the other two renowned national parks of Madhya Pradesh.

2010

St. Petersburg declaration or Global Tiger Recovery Programme, Declaration of Global Tiger Day. TX2 goal setting of doubling the tiger numbers. First All India Tiger Estimation done using pug mark and camera trap exercises was conducted.

M-STrIPES, short for Monitoring System for Tigers - Intensive Protection and Ecological Status is a software-based monitoring system launched across Indian tiger reserves by the Indian government's National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2010.

2011

The Transboundary Manas Conservation Area (TraMCA) straddles the Indo-Bhutan border. On one side sits Bhutan’s oldest protected area, Royal Manas National Park and on the other side is India’s Manas Tiger Reserve, an UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. Recent camera trap surveys have shown on both sides there is a healthy population of tigers and their prey.

2013

Nawegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve was notified 46th Tiger Reserve notified.

2014

Karnataka was the state with the highest tiger population. The tiger count in the state was 408 as per the 2014 tiger census. Total Tigers in India: 2226

2018

The total Tiger Population as per the Tiger Census 2018 is 2,967 Tigers, which was 33% more than the 2014 Census and more than double, than the 2006 Tiger Census.

India’s Tiger Census of 2018 has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records, for being the world’s largest wildlife survey that has been captured via camera traps.

Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, awarded the inagural Tx2 Award (source: Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in India wins the inaugural TX2 Award after doubling its tiger population | IUCN)

2021

Notification of Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve by NTCA (Source: SMTR_notification.pdf (ntca.gov.in))

2022

Year of Water Tiger (The Year of the Water Tiger: What it Means for 2022 - Holden QiGong )

The Tiger Summit as a closing to St. Petersburg to be held in September in Vladivostok, Russia.

Notification of Ramgarh-Vishdhari Tiger Reserve as the 52nd Tiger Reserve of India by NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority (ntca.gov.in)



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When we protect tigers, we save our precious forests and grasslands, and the presence of tigers in the forest is an indicator of the well-being of the ecosystem. Tiger landscapes provide water to millions of people for drinking and agricultural purposes. Tigers and their habitats provide vast benefits to the climate, people and wildlife.

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5 reasons how saving tigers help save so much more

Dark black stripes with a tawny coloured body, a cultural icon or a symbol of power? A tiger is all of that and so much more. The presence of this elusive big cat impacts even those without a personal connection to them. As a keystone species, without them, entire ecosystems could collapse.

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