By 2010, as few as 3,200 wild tigers remained, which was a shocking 97 pc population decline driven by poaching Kathmandu, October 7 The government is set to develop a database of endangered Bengal tiger by exchanging photos with India by December next year. According to Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, by the end of 2018 both countries will share tigers’ photographs that often roam around forests in areas bordering Nepal and India. Chief of Biodiversity and Environment Management Division at the ministry Dr Maheshwor Dhakal said, “We will publish comprehensive database of tigers with photographs by the end of 2018,” Dhakal told The Himalayan Times, “The database will also be helpful to tiger range countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.” Nepal and India are set to conduct tiger census by applying camera trapping method. As per The Global Tiger Recovery Plan, which was endorsed in the St Petersburg Declaration on Tiger conservation in 2010, Nepal committed to double its tiger population by 2022 from 121 to more than 250. The government said that though it was too early to say whether Nepal would meet the target of doubling the tiger population by 2018, it could meet the target earlier than 2022. Altogether 198 tigers were recorded during the 2013 census. This was 63 per cent increment in tiger population compared to their number in 2009. Apart from TX2 areas, Chitwan and Bardiya national parks have a large number of tigers. Tigers are the largest species of cat and one of the most iconic animals on the planet. A hundred years ago, there were 100,000 wild tigers. By the year 2010, as few as 3,200 wild tigers remained. It was a shocking 97 per cent population decline driven by rampant poaching and habitat loss. In 2010, governments of the 13 tiger range countries decided that innovative conservation efforts were needed. The 13 tiger range countries are Nepal, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.