This refers to the editorial, “Getting the numbers right” (February 13). The country’s national animal stands on the brink of extinction if imminent attention is not given to conservation efforts. Keystone species are the pride of India and the onus of its ecological concerns has to be borne by both the Government officials and also the citizens of the country. Dedicated tiger reserves containing buffer zones must be spawned in numbers and intensity. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) must come up with more stringent laws for anti-poaching and more sensitisation programmes for tiger awareness must be intitiated so that the vernacular masses are able to live in conjunction with the tiger populace.
Besides, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has to also come up with a panacea which takes the aid of technology in its Monitoring system for tigers — Intensive Protection and Ecological Status programme using Global Positioning System bases tracking systems. It gives an accurate count of the tiger population, its breeding ecology and even the locomotion patters. This can be further exploited to enrich the animal behaviour and can also be used for more effective policy implementation.