LEOPARD, RHINO, LION POPULATION INCREASES;
ELEPHANTS AND TIGERS DECLINE
The population of
leopards, lions and rhinos in the country has increased while
that of elephants and tigers has declined as per the latest Census
Reports. The leopard population has increased from 6828 in 1993
to 7273 in the last census in 1997. Rhinos have increased from
1496 in 1993 to 1817 in 1999. The number of lions has gone up
from 304 in 1995 to 322-332 in 2001. The elephant population has
marginally declined from 29010 in 1997 to 28274 in 2001. How ever,
against the 1993 population of 25,541 the number of elephants
has increased by 2,733. The number of tigers has come down from
3836 in 1997 to 3642 in 2001-02.
Maximum of 710 tigers
are found in Madhya Pradesh followed by 401 in Karnataka, 354
in Assam, 349 in West Bengal, 284 in Uttar Pradesh, 238 in Maharashtra,
227 in Chattisgarh and 192 in Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka tops in
elephant population with 6088 followed by Kerala with (5737),
Assam (5312), Tamil Nadu (2971), Arunachal Pradesh (2102), Uttar
Pradesh (1984), Meghalaya (1840) and Orissa (1827). The undivided
Madhya Pradesh accounted for the highest number of 1851 leopards
followed by the undivided Uttar Pradesh with 1412, Gujarat (832),
Himachal Pradesh (821), Karnataka (620), Rajasthan (474), Orissa
(422), and Assam (246). Lions are concentrated only in Gujarat.
Assam accounts for the major chunk of 1684 rhinos followed by
West Bengal (120) and UP (30).
During 1999 –2002
poaching of 404 leopards, 181 elephants, 129 tigers, 51 rhinos
and 3 lions was reported. Maximum poaching of 47 tigers was reported
from Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra (27), Madhya Pradesh
(17), West Bengal (15) and Andhra Pradesh (7). Elephant poaching
was maximum in Karnataka (55 cases) followed by Orissa (29), West
Bengal (25), Tamil Nadu (23), Kerala (14) and Uttaranchal (8).
Uttar Pradesh has reported the maximum of 250 cases of poaching
of leopards followed by Tamil Nadu (28), Madhya Pradesh (26),
Himachal Pradesh (24), Maharashtra (14), Uttaranchal (12), Rajasthan
(9) and Punjab (8). Assam has accounted for 48 of the 51 cases
of poaching of rhinos with West Bengal reporting the rest.
