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Bhubaneswar: Thousands of tribals in Orissa held a rally in Mayurbhanj district Saturday to create awareness about the importance of protecting tigers, whose numbers are fast dwindling.
The tribals, including women and children, marched through the streets of Baripada town in Mayurbhanj, raising slogans like "Save Tigers, Protect Environment".
The Simlipal National Park - one of the first project tiger reserves in the country - is located in Mayurbhanj.
"We are concerned by the way the number of tigers is coming down in the park," Rabindra Murmu, a tribal, said. "Forests and animals are closely linked to our lives. If they vanish we cannot survive," he said.
The latest census by the National Tiger Conservation Authority had revealed that there were only 1,411 tigers left in the wild in India today, less than half the number in 2002.
The Orissa government said the census figures were "inaccurate".
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