The latest assessment of tiger population is based on determining spatial occupancy of tigers throughout potential tiger forests using camera traps in a statistical framework. The assessment is not comparable to the earlier total count using pugmarks owing to several shortcomings.
Reghupathy admitted that the new findings indicated a poor status of tiger population in areas outside tiger reserves and protected areas.
In an area of 1164 Km in Assam the average tiger population is determined to be 70,with the upper limit being 80 and lower 60. The population of tiger in Assam is highest in the North-East, with the number of big cat dwindling in Arunachal Pradesh to 14 and Mizoram six.
Recently the National Tiger Conservation Authority had sounded country-wide alarm in 17 States including Assam following reports that organised gangs of poachers have fanned out across the country to kill tigers.