Orissa rubbishes tiger census; MP sees sharp decline

SAD STATE: According to the latest census there are just 1,411 tigers left in India.

Other stories in the section:

Sanjeev Nanda gets 5-year jail term

Sanjeev Nanda was found guilty in the case earlier this week.

• New IITs are a disaster, says PM's scientific adviser

• Defence chiefs take their pay grudge to PM

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Tale of Two Azmis

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• 1,411 tigers left in the wild in India: census
• Kaziranga Park under Project Tiger now
• Tiger may disappear in 10 yrs, Forest Minister unmoved

Keywords: Project Tiger, Census

New Delhi: The Orissa government has disputed claims of a sharp drop in the number of tigers in the state.

A report released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority on Monday said Orissa has 45 tigers in the wild as against the official figure of 173.

Reacting to the report, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said field studies, especially in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve, were not conducted properly.

Orissa does not accept the figures released by the Environment Ministry, he said.

But the tiger census has thrown up some shocking figures and it says that there are just 1,411 tigers left in India. The state that was worst affected was Madhya Pradesh which lost 50 per cent of its tiger population.

Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh was once home to 30 tigers as per government figures. But now the park has lost all its breeding tigers.

For over a month no females have been sighted in the Panna National Park.

Tiger scientist Raghu Chundawat, who submitted evidence of over 23 tigers missing from Panna in 2005, first sent the alarm bells ringing.

In fact, female tigers photographed by the Wildlife Institute of India, using camera traps, have not been sighted for months.

A tigress known as the Jardhova Female Cub is now presumed dead. Another tigress named Number 52 and over 16 years old is also presumed dead.

While 52's daughter has not been sighted for more than two months.

"The forest department asked me on my last visit if they can get tigers from Bandavgarh for breeding. I asked them why you want that unless there is a problem here in Panna," Raghu Chundawat says.

And in Panna the signs of the crisis are evident-

"Earlier they (tigers) used to lift our cattle quite often now our cattle roams the forest freely," claims Ram Yadav, sarpanch of Hinota village.

The magnitude of the crisis becomes evident after a crucial admission by an anti-poaching watcher who has worked in the park for over 20 years.

"The government report says there are 14 tigers in the park. But how? Where are the tigers?" he asks.

Photographs of other animals caught in poaching snares clearly suggest that poachers are active in Panna.

Ironically it's the cattle, which tell the story of the disappearance of Panna's tigers.

For the last 10 years farmers such as Anandi Singh confirm that there have been no instances of cattle lifting by tigers, which is an indicator perhaps of the number of tigers of Panna.