Indian Wild Tiger Numbers Almost Halve

The number of wild tigers in India has dwindled to just over 1,400, almost half the previous estimate.

Wildlife experts said the decline was alarming, and was being fueled by illegal poaching and urbanization.

The number of the increasingly endangered animals has fallen from 3,642 in the last major survey, in 2002, to the lowest level in more than three decades.

Until this census, India was considered home to 40% of the world's tigers, with 23 tiger reserves in 17 states.

Rajesh Gopal, a member of the government's National Tiger conservation authority, said there was "still hope" for the cat in India. "The tiger has suffered due to direct poaching, loss of quality habitat and loss of its prey," he said.

The authority pointed out that its counting method had changed: instead of counting pug marks, the new system relied on monitoring tiger levels with video cameras.

But it is clear that there has been a drop in tiger levels.

Poachers have emptied some reserves, such as Sariska in Rajasthan, of animals; others, such as Bandhavgarh in Madya Pradesh, have seen sharp drops because of villagers using forest land.

The only exception was the southern state of TamilNadu, where the animals' numbers had gone up to 76, from 60 five years ago.Wildlife experts have long forecast the eventual disappearance of the tiger in the wild from India, which a century ago had a population of more than 40,000 of the big cats.

Valmik Thapar, a leading campaigner, said it was now "time to act and save tigers from human beings. We have to create inviolate areas for tiger sand provide modern weapons to forest guards."

Many experts have said not enough is being done to crack down on poachers and the illegal trade in tiger skins.

Tigers are killed for their body parts. Skins are prized for fashion and tiger bones are used for oriental medicines; tiger pelts are sold for more than £8,000 in China.The Wildlife Protection Society of India has called for cooperation between India, Nepal and China - where demand for tiger parts is strongest - to prevent the trade.

The society last year successfully lobbied the Dalai Lama to urge Tibetans against wearing tiger fur.

The Indian government, which conservationists have attacked for overseeing the tigers' demise, said it would create eight new reserves to protect the remaining tiger population.

Some 250 villages - an estimated 200,000 people â€" would be relocated under the plan, and each relocated family would be given 1m rupees (£12,500) the government said.

However, it will take five years to set up the new "protected areas", at a cost to Indian taxpayers of about £80m.