India, Aug. 3 -- Jim Corbett wrote in the Man-Eaters of Kumaon , the "tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage and that when he is exterminated -as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support - India will be the poorer, having lost the finest of her fauna." Had the legendary hunter-turned conservationist and writer been alive, he would have noted with relief the contents of the latest estimation report on the number of tigers, titled the Status of Tigers, Co-Predators, Prey and their Habitat , 2018, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 29, annually observed as Global Tiger Day. The report puts the number at 2,967, which marks an increase of 33 per cent over the figure of 2.226 in the e...