7th Nov., 2016


Tiger mortality in the country has reached an alarming proportion — 110 in 2016 so far — the highest during the last five years.

Forty three of these cases are of poaching and seizures, much higher than 26 such cases registered during the whole of last year.

This is as per the statistics from Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a NGO working on wildlife crime enforcement. Accordingly, seizures include 225 kilograms of tiger bones, 15 skins, 56 kilograms of meat, besides claws, whiskers, skull and fat of the animal.

Uttarakhand, which shares its  borders with Nepal, reported of  the highest seizures with 150 kilograms of tiger bones and six skins. Maximum cases of 25 tiger deaths were reported from Madhya Pradesh. These include seven   cases of poaching. Thirty two tigers were “found dead” this year — a category that includes mortality due to unexplained circumstances,  disease or old age.

Cases of infighting have also gone up to 22 as compared to 17 last year.  Three tigers were  shot dead or killed in various instances of man tiger conflicts and same number died in road and train accidents.  

Incidentally, tiger mortality occurred more in protected areas and not in territorial forest divisions  raising serious questions on the country’s anti-poaching efforts.

“The figures are indeed alarming”, said Tito Joseph, Programme Manager, WPSI.

“Poaching can be controlled only when we have coordinated, intelligence-led enforcement actions. This needs to be coupled with target oriented monitoring,” he added. 

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