Tiger numbers on the rise, census shows

Latest count raises hopes for the future of the endangered big cats.

tigers

India has released the figures of its latest tiger census, and it shows an increase in their numbers in the wild.

The result comes as the International Tiger Conservation Conference is being held in New Delhi.

Tigers are present in 13 countries across Asia as well as Russia’s Far East.

Some 100,000 tigers existed in the wild at the start of the 20th century. Today there are as few as 3,200 remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

But India – home to more than half of the world’s wild tigers – counted more than 1,700, almost 300 more than four years ago or an increase in tiger numbers of 15 per cent.

The head of the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative, Mike Baltzer, told Al Jazeera how the findings have raised hopes for the endangered species.

Source: Al Jazeera