Tiger census by February: Ramesh

NEW DELHI - The results of the tiger census now under way will be released by February 2011, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday.

“We can expect the tiger census results by February, and it is for the first time that Sunderbans (in West Bengal) has been included in the census,” Ramesh told IANS.

Ramesh said this time the tiger census was being conducted in a more scientific manner. It was based on pugmarks earlier.

The ministry was earlier supposed to release the census results by November end.

The last census in 2005-06 showed a sharp fall in tiger numbers, showing India had only 1,411 tigers in the wild.

India was home to about 3,000 tigers around two decades ago.