Big Brother spy technology used to save last of the big cats

Every wild tiger in India will get its own ID card. Picture / Reuters

DELHI - India is to fit hidden cameras in the depths of the jungle and fit tigers with radio collars tracked by satellite in an attempt to bring one of the world's most endangered species back from the brink of extinction.

The whole set-up is part of a major new effort by India to protect its dwindling population of wild tigers from poachers.

Under the scheme, every wild tiger in India will be issued its own photo-ID card - which will be kept by the Wildlife Institute of India so it can identify the tigers from sightings and verify they are still alive.

The new system is being launched as part of a national tiger census, amid fears that the tiger will be driven to extinction in the wild within little more than a generation.

India, which is home to the majority of tigers left in the wild, has come in for heavy criticism after it emerged last year that the tiger population had been hit hard by illegal poachers, right under the noses of wildlife officials.

The Government was forced to admit that 122 tigers had been slaughtered by poachers between 1999 and 2003. In the most notorious instance, it emerged that the world-renowned Sariska tiger reserve had lost all 28 of its tigers to poachers, and was empty.

Although the international trade in tiger skins and parts is banned, there is a lucrative black market. A single tiger skin can fetch as much as US$18,000 ($25,700), while a tiger penis, used in traditional Chinese medicine for virility, sells for US$25,000 per kg - prices for which poachers are prepared to take serious risks.

Before independence in 1947, India had some 40,000 tigers. Today, the Government estimates there are 3700 left, but some conservationists believe the true number may be as low as 2000. Until now there has been no way of tracking individual tigers in India. The authorities have relied on physical sightings and pugmarks, or paw prints, to gauge the size of the wild population.

Once the census is complete, hidden cameras in India's national parks will monitor the tigers' movements.

"This will get us information such as levels of density and levels of disturbance, which will give us a clear idea of what is really happening on the ground," said the institute's Qamar Qureshi, known in India as Tiger-man. "If photography is done intensively, we'll know what is happening to the population."

A DYING BREED

* Before independence in 1947, about 40,000 tigers roamed wild in India.

* Today, the Government estimates there are 3700 left.

* Some conservationists believe the true number may be as low as 2000.

- INDEPENDENT