A 3-year-old male tiger died mysteriously in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve on Tuesday evening, taking the number of big cat deaths in the state to 6 this year.
An 8 years old tiger was crushed to death by an earthmover on the border of Corbett in Ramnagar/PIC BY Karan Mota (Karan Mota/HT File Photo)
Dileep Kumar, field director of the reserve, told Hindustan Times that the tiger was shifted to Sanjay Tiger Reserve from Pench on March 21 this year.
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
“The tiger had wounds on its neck but they had healed. It had been kept in the enclosure. Though the exact cause will be clear after the post mortem, I suspect he might have died due to infection,” he said.
This is the second tiger death this month. On April 1, a tiger was run over by a train between the Budhni and Mid-Ghat area in Sehore district.
The first tiger death this year also occurred in Shahdol district near the Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve.
Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve, spread over an area of 1674 sq km, comprises Sanjay National Park and Dubri Sanctuary and buffer areas taken from Sidhi and Shahdol districts.
In the third week of January, a buffalo killed a tiger cub in the buffer zone of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. A tiger was found dead near a pool of water and the rail track in the last week of February in Mid-Ghat area of Sehore on the Bhopal-Hoshangabad rail track.
India is home to more than half of the world’s tiger population with more than 2,200 roaming its reserves, according to the most recent census in 2014.
According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), MP recorded nearly one-third of the tiger deaths in the country, the highest for any state, last year. Of the 99 tiger deaths across India, the highest since 2001, 30 were reported from the central state.
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
{{^usCountry}}
However, according to wildlife group Conservation Lenses and Wildlife (CLAW), there were 102 tiger deaths in the country in 2016, including 33 in MP. Since January 2016, MP has lost 36 tigers.
{{/usCountry}}
{{#usCountry}}
However, according to wildlife group Conservation Lenses and Wildlife (CLAW), there were 102 tiger deaths in the country in 2016, including 33 in MP. Since January 2016, MP has lost 36 tigers.
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
