KOCHI: The Western Ghat landscape of Kerala has 190 tigers, up from 46 in 2006. This has been revealed in the tiger census conducted last year, the results of which were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday.
The tiger population in the state went up to 71 in 2010 and 136 in 2014 before touching 190. Karnataka has the highest number of 524 among southern states in the 2018 Census. The number increased from 290 in 2006 to 300 in 2010 and 406 in 2014.
Tamil Nadu had 76 tigers in 2006 in the Western Ghat terrain while the figure went up to 163 in 2010, 229 in 2014 and 264 in 2018. Goa which had no tiger in 2006 and 2010 had its highest number of five in 2014 that has now come down to three.
Overall, the Western Ghats had 981 tigers in 2018, up from 402 in 2006. The total number for Western Ghats was 534 in 2010 and 776 in 2014.
In the Central Indian landscape and Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh had 95 tigers in 2006 which came down to 48 last year. The decline was evident previously also with 72 tigers spotted in 2010 and 68 in 2014. Telengana which was not existent during previous censuses has 26 tigers in the 2018 census. In Maharashtra, the number has gone up from 103 in 2006 to 312 last year. It had 168 tigers in 2010 and 190 in 2014.
