Wildlife Trust of India, ED & CEO, Vivek Menon said “Continuing our effort for holistic conservation action, we celebrate the new tiger census numbers of 2976 with a commitment to manage the emerging issues of tiger conservation, that of habitat degradation and human-tiger conflict. On International Tiger Day, I use the opportunity to announce the release of an animation movie, “Kinara” made by WTI that deals with human-tiger conflict.” This film is to be shared by Sri Prakash Javdekar, Hon’ble Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Minister of Information and Broadcasting with officials at a function within the Ministry to celebrate International Tiger Day.

The tiger number though robust, there is a need to take all necessary steps to ensure in the near future the species continues to survive and thrive in our forest areas. Increasing anthropogenic pressures, development activities, encroachment and hunting have resulted in habitat-fragmentation, damaged tiger corridors, human-tiger conflict.

Kinara is an animation film for communities living in close proximity of Tiger habitats, targeting specifically their youth and children. The objective is to deconstruct the tiger conflict they are often exposed to or part of; the film shares an objective view of what circumstances can lead to conflict and animal’s response in the scenario. The story narrates an engaging account of the varied triggers that lead to human-tiger conflicts and how one can mitigate them. The alternatives shared have in WTI experience shown to reduce such conflicts and their adverse impacts dramatically. The endeavour is to showcase the high probability of life of peaceful coexistence with tigers if only we humans are alert and understand the minor changes we need to make in our lives.