Imphal, June 20: With the exception of the recent Court sentence against a poacher, instances of Wild Life Protection Act 1972 being enforced in the State is a rarity even as contradicting figure of tiger population for the last many years has culminated with a report citing total extinction of the big cat in Manipur.

According to a recent report published by the Dehradun based Indian Council of Forest Research and Education on the 2001-02 tiger count conducted by Forest Department under �Project Tiger� the endangered species has vanished from the State soil.

The report indicates an alarming situation as the 1972 tiger count survey carried out by the State department had listed presence of one of the animal species in the wild followed by an increase to 10 as per another population count conducted seven years later.

However, the figure dwindled to only six during the 1984 record followed by a record rise to 31 in the 1989 survey.

Inspite of the unstable tiger population during these surveys and absence of such tiger counting programmes in the entire North East region since 1989 survey, the latest survey carried out in 2001-02 period could not detect a single tiger thereby coming to the conclusion that the animal species had vanished from the State of Manipur.

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