Tiger Deaths In Maharashtra Continue With 11 Dead In Last Nine Months

The carcass of a two year old tiger was found decomposing at the Umred Paoni Karhandla (UPK) Sanctuary that is spread over Nagpur and Bandara districts of Maharashtra on Saturday (12 September).

This sub-adult male tiger is said to have been killed by another tiger that was born in the sanctuary but dispersed to Brahmapuri and returned to 'reclaim its territory'.

“The tiger was approximately two years old and was one of three sub-adult cubs of dominant tigress T17 in UPK. Based on the bodily injuries and circumstantial evidence, we believe the tiger may have come in conflict with an 11-year-old adult tiger T22, whose movements we have documented in this area,” said Ravikiran Govekar, field director, Pench Tiger Reserve, as reported by Hindustan Times.

According to the Tiger census report that was released on the occasion of World Tiger Day on 29 July this year, India's tiger count stands at 2967, which is 70 per cent of the global tiger population. The number of tigers in Maharashtra stood at 312.

But the state has so far lost 11 tigers in the last nine months, with five tigers dying in ten days in June this year. This takes the total number of tiger deaths in the country to 72. Four of those five deaths that took place in June were said to have happened under unusual circumstances, which were then traced to poisoning by locals.

The forest department has also been under the scanner as these tiger deaths that were probed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) revealed various lapses in investigation and protection efforts.