Every year 29 July is observed as Global Tiger Day. It is also observed as International Tiger Day or World Tiger Day. The main aim of the day is to raise public awareness about this endangered big cat. The first International Tiger Day was observed in 2010.
The 2023 Global Tiger Day was celebrated at the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand. The Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey released the All India Tiger Estimation -2022 report on the occasion.
An international summit was held in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2010 to address the issue of the declining population of tigers in the world. The 13 countries participating in the summit decided to observe 29 July as Global Tiger Day to increase public awareness about the rapidly declining tigers' population in the world and to devise and implement serious conservation measures to prevent their extinction.
They also created Tx2- the global goal to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022.
This year no specific theme has been chosen for the Global Tiger Day 2023.
The Government of India declared tiger as the national animal in 1973 replacing Lion. It launched Project Tiger in 1973 to protect and conserve tigers in India.
Around 75% of the world’s wild tiger population is found in India. After India, Russia has the second largest population of wild tigers.
According to the All India Tiger Estimation Report -2022 census, the total number of wild tigers in India is estimated to be 3682 in 2022 as compared to 2967 in 2018.
The largest tiger population of 785 is in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Karnataka (563) & Uttarakhand (560) and Maharashtra (444).
The highest tiger population in a tiger reserve is in Jim Corbett (260), followed by Bandipur (150), Nagarhole (141), Bandhavgarh (135), Dudhwa (135), Mudumalai (114), Kanha (105), Kaziranga (104), Sundarbans (100), Tadoba (97), Sathyamangalam (85), and Pench (77).
The national tiger census is done every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in partnership with state forest departments, conservation NGOs, and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
There are 53 tiger reserves in India with the Ranipur Tiger reserve in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pardesh being the 53rd one.
Largest by Area: Nagarjunsagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Andhra Pradesh.
Smallest by Area: Bor tiger reserve in Maharashtra
Maximum Tiger in a tiger reserve: Jim Corbett tiger reserve, Uttrakhand