The Uttarakhand forest department said on 26 July that the Corbett National Park the minimum tiger population increased from 163 in 2015 to 208 tigers and six cubs in 2017. The next day, YV Jhula, a senior scientist of the Wildlife Institute of India questioned the government claim. He said that an increase of 4 to 5 tigers per year is the average for Corbett National Park. This means that a 9-fold increase in two years is not possible. He also mentioned that Corbett has reached its optimal carrying capacity for tigers. The point should taken into account because it is difficult for the numbers to increase so significantly with such rampant poaching.