World's First Successful Scientific Reintroduction of Tigers

Why in News?

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change hosted a national-level workshop, marking 18 years of the historic tiger restoration project in Sariska.

• Publications Released - The ministry launched 3 important programmatic documents:
  • Road Map on Active Management of Tigers in India
  • Booklet on Reintroduction and Recovery of Tigers in India
  • Annual Report of Project Cheetah (Sept 2024–Dec 2025).
• Expanded Network- India's network of protected tiger reserves has expanded substantially over the past decade, increasing from 46 to 58 reserves.

India has successfully achieved its St. Petersburg Declaration target to double wild tiger numbers.

Sariska Tiger Reintroduction Program

• The Sariska Tiger Reintroduction Programme is widely recognised as the world's first successful scientific reintroduction of tigers into a habitat where the species had suffered local extinction.

Critical Lessons in Active Management

• The long-term success of reintroduction in Sariska and Panna was driven entirely by winning the trust and active support of local communitystakeholders.
• In contrast, the absence of local community alignment led to failure in Odisha's Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
• Prey Base Augmentation - Reintroducing large carnivores requires in situ herbivore translocations.
• Active management programs are utilizing translocations of Gaur and Barasingha to build high-density prey setups before carnivore releases.
• Preparedness of Low-Density Reserves - Representatives from structurally vulnerable, low-density landscapes presented their ecological baselines to evaluate their readiness for future tiger stocking.
• Cheetah Cross-Learning - A special session focused on Project Cheetah (the world's first inter-continental large carnivore reintroduction), mining operational lessons to guide future domestic wildlife recovery actions.

Reference

DD India | Tiger Re-introduction