We are excited about the findings of the census."
Kathmandu, July (ANTARA News/Xinhua-OANA) - The population of endangered Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Nepal has climbed up to 198 in 4 years, up by 39 percent from 121 in 2009.

Making its latest tiger census public amid a function in the capital Monday evening, Nepal`s Minister for Forestry and Soil Conservation Tek Bahadur Gharti expressed satisfaction over the increase of the endangered animal`s number.

"We are excited about the findings of the census. We are motivated to work more towards conserving tigers," Gharti said.

The increase in the tiger population is due to the improvement in tiger habitat, strong execution of law and abundance of prey animals, said Dr. Maheshwor Dhakal, director at the Department of National Park and Wildlife Reserve.

Nepal aims to double its tiger population from 121 in 2009 to 222 in 2022. "We are confident of achieving the target as per the St. Petersburg Declaration of 2010. We can even go far beyond the target," said Dhakal.

The St. Petersburg Declaration announced July 29 as the International Tiger Day, which was observed in Nepal this year and led to the release of the census report.

Nepal has adopted the policy of conducting tiger census in every four years using latest technologies including camera trapping and survey of prey animals through line transect method. This year`s census was conducted for four months from Feb. 5 to June 5, 2013.

Among Nepal`s national parks and reserves, Chitwan National Park ranked first in terms of tiger population with 120 tigers. It is followed by Bardiya with 50, Shukla Phanta with 17, Parsa with seven and Banke with four.

The census was conducted in 14 of the country`s 75 districts, where tiger habitats are found. Apart from those traditional habitat districts, tigers were also discovered in two new districts of Kapilbastu and Dang.

Tigers in Nepal live in the dense forest of southern Terai plains that stretch for more than 1,000 km from east to west.
(U.C003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013