39 tigers killed in first 81 days of 2021, Maharashtra tops with 15 deaths

Kedar Gore of The Corbett Foundation says India’s focus has unfortunately been on managing few celebrated tiger reserves. Representation pic/Uday Devrukhkar

It seems the year 2021 hasn't dawned well for tigers in India. Independent data compiled by the group Conservation Lenses and Wildlife (CLaW), shows that a total of 39 tiger deaths have taken place in the first 82 days of the year. Maharashtra tops this with 15 deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh with 9 and Uttarakhand 5. Maharashtra also accounts for 41% of total tiger mortality in India raising serious concerns.

ClaW, an independent forum of wildlife enthusiasts from Maharashtra, has been documenting the tiger deaths taking place in India. However, according to www.tigernet.nic. a website which is the official database of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), there have been 22 tiger deaths in the country (data available on the website is till February 14).

‘Numbers could be more'
The data compiled by CLaW does not include skin seizures. If these are. added then the numbers might increase further. Sarosh Lodhi, conservation photographer, CLaW said, "Maharashtra and MP need to pull up their socks for better monitoring, especially in the coming summer season, when the numbers are bound to go up, as is the trend over the years. If Maharashtra accounts for 41% of total tiger mortality in India, it raises some serious questions. MP accounts for 23% which helps us deduce that the problem lies in the Central India landscape, where the total is 25 deaths out of 39 nationally, making it a whopping 64% of the total."

Actor and wildlife conservationist Randeep Hooda had also tweeted about the tiger deaths. He wrote, "The state of affairs after the robust count in the tiger census. 38 #tiger deaths in 81 days .. a dead tiger every 2 days .. skin seizures not included. We need to be way more careful with our National Heritage. (Data compiled by #CLAW open for further corrections)."

Wildlife conservationist and director of The Corbett Foundation, Kedar Gore said, "Most of these tiger deaths are near popular tiger reserves and in forest areas adjacent to these reserves, and therefore offer natural dispersal for tigers. Forest corridors are most neglected and lack of sufficient data on tiger presence there only helps poachers. Our focus unfortunately is on managing few celebrated tiger reserves."

‘Prevent retaliatory killings'
"All tiger bearing forests must be brought under control of wildlife wings of respective states for management purposes. The benefits passed on to the villagers in the buffer zones of tiger reserves must also be given to villagers of other forest areas too to prevent retaliatory killings of wild animals. The states must receive support from NTCA and the MoEFCC by way of funds for implementing these human welfare schemes that aid tiger conservation," he added. Gore also pointed out that fully equipped Tiger Task Forces are still missing in our reserves to tackle poaching.

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No. of tiger deaths in the country in 2020 as per www.tigernet.nic.in.