Why India Must Let Her Tigers Wander Freely

Milind Pariwakam
Sep 16, 2025 | 21:14 IST

Fragmented & poorly planned corridors, which link reserve forests, are undermining conservation efforts.

Tigers don’t recognise administrative and political boundaries. They roam, disperse, recolonise, and thrive only when the landscape is permeable. Yet our conservation practice ignores them in the spaces between protected areas.

In 2006, India amended the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) to legally recognise wildlife corridors – those vital tracts of land that connect one protected area to another. These corridors make long-term recovery possible. But nearly two decades later, the country still hasn’t fully implemented that mandate.
Copyright © 2024 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service.