Nepal’s leader says it has too many tigers. Does it?

Nepal has been celebrated globally for tripling its tiger population in a decade, but Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli believes the country may have been too successful.

“In such a small country, we have more than 350 tigers… We cannot have this many tigers and let them eat people,” he said last month at an event organized to review the outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29).

Tiger attacks claimed nearly 40 lives and injured 15 between 2019 and 2023, according to government data. But local communities say the number is much higher.

“For us, 150 tigers are enough,” Oli declared last December, even suggesting that Nepal send its prized big cats to other countries as gifts.

Experts say there is no single answer. It depends on the availability of prey in a particular area — ideally, each tiger should be in close proximity to about 500 prey animals, such as deer, antelope or wild buffalo, says tiger biologist Ullas Karanth.

Experts believe that Oli’s interest in setting a maximum limit on tiger numbers is misplaced. Instead, the government of Nepal should focus on “expanding protected areas that have a reasonable natural density of prey and tigers,” adds Dr. Karanth.

If wildlife is leaking out of protected areas in search of prey, it could explain why so many attacks occur in places bordering forests, where tigers have always encountered humans.

Examples are “buffer zones” that lie between national parks and human settlements. Wildlife sightings are common here, but locals also use the area to graze livestock and gather fodder and firewood.

Forest corridors – patches of land that connect different parks and biosphere reserves, allowing wildlife to roam among them – have emerged as another flashpoint. Roads sometimes pass through these areas, and local people also use them to hunt for food, making them vulnerable to attacks.

Zoologist Karan Shah says the rising number of human deaths is a sign that the once-successful model of conservation in Nepal is beginning to crack.

“yet, [Nepal’s] “The focus seems to be on attracting international attention, while ignoring the impact on communities living around national parks and protected areas,” Mr. Shah adds.

He argues that environmental conservation is not just an “environmental or scientific issue” but also a social issue – and that the loss of human life must be prevented so that local communities remain part of conservation efforts and do not turn against them. Anger is also growing among local residents because tigers prey on livestock.

“A large portion of our population still lives in rural areas and depends on the forest resources they help conserve – but they are now increasingly being killed and injured by tigers,” said Thakur Bhandari, president of the Community Forest Users Federation of Nepal. BBC.

“As forest conservationists, we can’t be against wildlife, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore its impact on humans and our society.”

A century ago, there were about 100,000 tigers roaming Asia, but deforestation and poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction. There are now only about 5,600 wild tigers left in 13 countries, including Nepal, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Russia.

All of these countries have committed to doubling their tiger numbers by 2022, but Nepal was the first to exceed that target – partly due to a no-poaching initiative that doubled the country’s forest cover between 1992 and 2016.

Connecting 16 protected areas in southern Nepal to areas across the border in northern India has created forest corridors that have also helped.

The increasing number of tiger attacks has tarnished this achievement.

Oli believes that the tiger population in Nepal is increasing at the expense of human lives. However, it is not easy to come up with workable solutions.

The Parks and Wildlife Department has acknowledged the challenge of tiger management in Nepal, where tigers that kill humans are often tracked and captured.

“Zoos and rescue centers are already overcrowded with problematic tigers,” the department said in a conservation report published in 2023. “There is an urgent need for a comprehensive protocol to deal with the rescue, handling and rehabilitation of problem animals.”

Oli suggested sending Nepal’s tigers abroad.

“People love keeping birds like hawks and peacocks as pets, so why not get tigers?” suggest. “This would enhance their status as well.”

Others have different ideas.

Dr Karanth says tigers that have repeatedly claimed human lives should be “killed immediately”. Some argue that humans have exacerbated the problem by encroaching on tigers’ natural habitats, using the land for agriculture or infrastructure and reducing the big cats’ prey base.

Meanwhile, the BBC spoke to a wildlife management expert, who claimed that Oli wants to reduce tiger numbers so that more land can be cleared to build infrastructure.

“It’s not about people’s safety,” he added.

Currently the situation is at a standstill. It is unclear whether Oli’s “tiger diplomacy” proposal will gain much traction, or whether over-encroachment by humans or tigers is to blame for Nepal’s tiger attack crisis.

What is clear is that humans and tigers are struggling to achieve peaceful coexistence in Nepal – and the country’s conservation success story has brought with it many thorny problems to consider.