Conservation Narratives: Are we hung-up on the success or stuck in a rut?
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, 2018. Part I In the last few years, we have celebrated the success of doubling tiger population, leopard population, rhino population, and vulture population nationally as well as regionally. This success is hard-earned. In case of the rhino and vulture populations, both saw significant declines due to man – poaching and habitat loss in case of the rhino, and the NSAID-drug in case of the vultures. The longest recovery has been spearheaded for the tiger than any other species in India – and it has seen its successes, if not without localized setbacks where populations declined or were locally extirpated. Regionally, too, the successes have been worth celebrating, the hard-ground barasingha found in Madhya Pradesh has not only increased in numbers to levels now considered safer than they were a decade ago, but also expanded through reintroductions to historically-occupied sites. There are report after reports celebrating a revival of wildlife in Indi...