8000 Km Tiger corridor proposed

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8000km tiger corridor

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

 

*New Delhi, Feb. 14:* Tigers from eight Asian countries may be able to

intermingle through an 8,000km corridor proposed by international

conservation organisations to reduce the risk of inbreeding.

 

The US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the UK-based Panthera

Foundation have announced they would create a corridor for tigers to roam

freely in **Asia. The corridor would extend from Bhutan through northeast

India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

 

" We're not asking countries to set aside new parks to make this corridor a

success, " said Alan Rabinowatz, director of science and exploration at the

WCS. " This is more about changing regional zoning in tiger range countries

to allow tigers to move more freely between areas of good habitat, " he said.

 

 

Wildlife scientists said the corridor would allow tigers to move from one

area to another, and facilitate genetic exchange between what would have

been isolated populations under threat of inbreeding.

 

" This corridor is intended to address the genetic consequences of the

fragmentation of tiger habitat, " Ulhas Karanth, director of the India

chapter of the WCS, told *The Telegraph*.

 

A study by the World Wildlife Fund and other leading conservation

organisations two years ago had found that tigers currently occupy 7 per

cent of their historical range.

 

The study, commissioned by the Save The Tiger Fund, had found that although

the number of tigers had gone down, Southeast Asia held the promise of

sustaining healthy tiger populations.

 

A senior Indian wildlife official said India supported the concept of a

genetic corridor.

 

" We're still in the process of negotiating a bilateral agreement with Bhutan

to facilitate this, " said Rajesh Gopal, the Project Tiger director. " We'll

need a formal agreement for free movement of animals with both Bhutan and

Myanmar, " he said.

 

India's Project Tiger officials estimated earlier this week that India had

no more than 1,657 tigers left, but asserted that India had the largest

number of tigers in the world.

 

The eight-nation corridor, announced by the two conservation organisations

at a UN meeting this year, would represent the largest remaining tiger

habitat. " It is feasible if it finds sufficient enthusiasm from the heads of

states of each of these countries, " he said.