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Search begins for 4 tigers of Ranthambore reserve
Jaipur: The Ranathambore Tiger Reserve administration has started an intensive search for at least four missing tigers, not sighted for the past year, even as Tiger Watch, whose volunteers track and monitor tigers in the reserve said on Twitter that the number was actually higher, at seven
Jaipur:
The Ranathambore Tiger Reserve administration has started an intensive search for at least four missing tigers, not sighted for the past year, even as Tiger Watch, whose volunteers track and monitor tigers in the reserve said on Twitter that the number was actually higher, at seven.
In a major setback to tiger conservation in Rajasthan, four tigers including two sub-adults have been reported missing from RTR in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, officials admitted .
When a tiger is missing for such a long period of time, it is very likely that it has died, experts said with the possible causes being infighting, poisning by villages upset at losing cattle to the big cats, or even poaching.
The RTR administration has not sighted 11-year-old tiger, T-64, tigress T-73 (9-years-old), and her two sub-adult cubs for the past year. The forest department is making efforts to trace them. The officials said the last movement of the tigers were in the non-tourism zone and that they were last camera trapped in March 2020. The two sub-adults were from the second litter of T-73.
RTR Field Director, TC Verma said, “We have written to nearby forest divisions, and Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh to look for and inform us if the tigers are cited.”
RTR’s 76 tigers including 21 cubs and sub-adults live in an area of 1,334 square kms, making it third most congested habitats for the big cats in India after Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
The ‘Status of Tigers in India-2018’ report said that Rajasthan has witnessed an increase of tiger population by 115% in the last 12 years.
“The tigers were last seen in Darra, Kundra, Badlav and Jakhra area of RTR, where currently Tigress-103 (four-year-old) and male young tigers T-112-113 are moving. There are possibilities that they are pushed out by them, or died in territorial fight,” a senior official said, requesting anonymity.
In the past 10 years, over 26 big cats have gone missing from RTR. Till date, none of these tigers have been found.
Retired forest services official Sunanyan Sharma said that overcrowding of the reserve is part of the problem and added that the only solution for effective tiger conservation is relocation, after developing the habitat.
Dharmendra Khandal of Tiger Watch said all four tigers going missing was a serious issue. “Human threat to big cats cannot be ruled out. Territorial fights among tigers is normal but all these were in prime age and not old,” he said.
Khandal blamed the lack of monitoring for such occurrences and suggested that a new protocol be put in place for a fortnight review of tiger’s status and location.
