Tiger,when we talk about Tiger we feel so exciting and fascinating by even imagining it. Royal Bengal Tiger is our National Animal.The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India. But these days this strength, agility and Grace is disappearing slowly.

Why Tigers are Endangered species?

These iconic species are on the brink of extinction due to various causes. Those are Illegal trade of Tigers and Tiger’s Bodyparts like Nails,Skin etc.
They are also poached for extension of Habitat of Humans and also due to fear of them.

3.The other reasons are namely diseases,Habitat loss and prey depletion,Poor genetic diversity threat to tigers,Degradation of habitats,Man-animal conflict,
Lack of protection,infrastructure,and conviction and quantum of punishment being very meager.

What is a Tiger Reserve?

It is an area under which the Tigers are protected from poaching and illlegal activities and also bred to increase the dwelding population of Tigers.

Types of Tiger Reserves?

These are broadly categorised into two types of zones namely
1. Core area: The core areas are free of all human activities. It has the legal status of a national park or wildlife sanctuary. It is kept free of biotic disturbances and forestry operations like collection of minor forest produce, grazing, and other human disturbances are not allowed within.These Core Areas are also known Critical Tiger Reserves.
2.Buffer areas: The bBffer areas are subjected to ‘conservation-oriented land use’. They comprise forest and non-forest land. It is a multi-purpose use area with twin objectives of providing habitat supplement to spillover population of wild animals from core conservation unit and to provide site specific co-developmental inputs to surrounding villages for relieving their impact on core area.

How these Tiger Reserves are started?

On 1st April 1973, Government launched Project Tiger to save tigers. It was launched from the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. It was launched during the Tenure of Indira Gandhi. Kailash Sankhala was the first director of Project Tiger.Initially, nine tiger reserves were dedicated to the conservation of the animal. Today there are 50 Tiger Reserves to conserve the Majestic Species.

Some of the Major Tiger Reserves in India?

*Some of the important Tiger Reserves of India*
1.Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand:Corbett Tiger Park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative and also the oldest national park in India.
2.Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka:Bandipur Tiger Reserve is one of the first wildlife reserves in India to adopt Project Tiger in 1974 and known for its wildlife. The park is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and famous for its significant tiger and elephant population along with sandalwood trees.
3.Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Karnataka:Nagarhole Tiger Reserve is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and has a healthy tiger-predator ratio with Indian bison and elephants.
4.Kanha Tiger Reserve,Madhya Pradesh:Kanha Tiger Reserve is the largest national park of Madhya Pradesh state and one of the most popular tiger reserves of India.
5.Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Andhrapradesh:The srisailam area is critical tiger reserve because the pollution of tigers is more and thus its declared as core or critical tiger reserve zone where human settlement is restricted. However, tourism is allowed with strict regulations.

Tiger Reserves are maintained by Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change.

Features of a Tiger Reserve:

1.Stepped up protection/networking.
2.Voluntary relocation of people from core /critical tiger habitat to provide inviolate space for tiger.
3.Strengthening of protection infrastructure and habitat management as per tiger conservation plans of tiger reserves.

Challenges faced by Tiger reserves:

There is threat of Poaching of Tigers and there is a constant pressure on Tiger habitat from villagers living outside the Tiger Reserves,human-wildlife conflict, lack of forest staff, hunting of animals, hydropower projects, mining, improper garbage disposal, pollution and climate change.

Some suggestions to overcome the Challenges:

1. Making some policies which are Tiger Friendly.
2. Reducing the Tiger-Human Conflict
3.Build Capacity should be increased in Reserve.
4.Strict Punishments should be given to those who violate the laws.