KATHMANDU - A study of tigers conducted recently has suggested the rise in the population of tigers in Nepal.

Altogether, there are 176 tigers in the country, an increment of 21, a program organized in the capital Kathmandu to mark the World Tiger Day revealed on Sunday. The tiger census conducted in 2010 had found 155 tigers in the country.

World Tiger Day 2012 is being marked in the country by organizing various awareness programs related to tiger conservation.

Nepal is among the 13 tiger countries which has been working in close cooperation with organization for conservation of the wild mammal.

World Wide Fund (WWF), which has been actively working towards the conservation of the animal which is facing a threat of extinction, has urged government of all nations to raise efforts to work towards Zero Poaching.

While at the start of the 20th century, the population of the wild tiger around the world was estimated to be over 100,000 the recent numbers show that there are less than 3,500 wild tigers globally.

Nepal hold habitat to the Bengal (Indian) tiger species which is also found in other parts of South Asia. Poaching and deforestation have been the key reasons for the extinction of tiger around the world.