India's Tiger Population Increases, But Our National Animal Faces The Biggest Threat From Us

With around 3,000 tigers, India is one of the safest habitats for them in the world, that is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while releasing the results of All India Tiger Estimation on the occasion International Tiger Day.?

While there is no doubt that the number of tigers in the wild, which was once nearly on the brink of being wiped out has increased in recent years, the national animal is not out of danger yet.

AFP/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

With no natural predators in the wild, tigers face the biggest threat from humans. The ever increasing deforestation means the number of human-animal conflicts are also on the rise and more often than not it is the animals that are on the losing end.

Just in the past couple of days, there have been multiple cases where tigers were killed by humans.

The first case was reported from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh where a tigress was beaten to death by a group of villagers.?

What is even more shocking was that the villagers were celebrating their act, making videos of it with a running commentary.

The second incident was reported from Bandipur National Park in Karnataka where a tiger was run over by a speeding car outside the area where the big cat was supposed to have a safe home. The tiger had multiple injury marks and fractures on its body, which is said to the result of the carcass being dragged on the road after being hit by the vehicle.

BCCL

Earlier this month a tigress and her two cubs were found dead n Brahmapuri division of Maharashtra, in an act of poisoning.?

The three bodies were recovered from near a drain in Metepur village under the Chimur forest range of Chandrapur district. The tigress was around five years old and the cubs were said to a year old.

BCCL

Last year saw one of the most outrageous incidents of tiger kills in India when Tigress Avni, officially called T1 was shot dead by the authorities in Maharashtra for allegedly being a maneater, which activists say was not proven.

BCCL

Despite a massive online campaign and various legal attempts, the mother of two was shot dead on the intervening night of November 2-3. There were also allegations that the hunter hired by the authorities made no attempts to tranquilize Avni and capture her alive, instead, shot her dead on point-blank.?

Just days after Avni was killed, another big cat was killed horrifically, this time in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district and inside the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.?

Villagers barged inside the reserve and crushed the tigress under the tractor after the tigress allegedly killed a 50-year-old man.

When will humans learn to leave the animal live its life? We will have to stop the encroachment into their habitats first, then we can see and end to this conflict. So far, only humans are responsible for the deaths of tigers.