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ROYAL BENGAL
Tiger numbers drop
- AFP
NEW DELHI - India's rare royal Bengal tiger population has plunged to 1,411, drastically lower than the estimated 3,700 believed to exist five years ago, researchers said yesterday.

Rajesh Gopal, who heads Project Tiger, a conservation program launched in the 1970s, unveiled the latest figures and blamed "poaching, loss of quality habitat and prey" as the main reasons for the decimation.

Tigers are hunted for their pelts, claws and bones, which are prized in traditional Chinese medicine.