Figures provided by Wildlife Protection Society of India show that 14 tigers perished in Uttarakhand, the highest in a single state. Karnataka takes the second place with six deaths while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for five each.
Poaching, road accident, infighting and fight with other animals are some of the reasons for the deaths. Some tigers died of natural causes and diseases too. A few were killed by villagers, police and the forest department.
"Tiger poachers are still active. On Dec 2, forest department officials recovered a tiger trap placed by poachers in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve of Andhra Pradesh," says Tito Joseph, programme manager, WPSI.
Skins, bones, skulls and claws of the royal big cat have also been seized in Manipur, Orissa, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand this year.
A tigress was found dead without claws, canines and whiskers in Chhattisgarh's Bhoramdeo Wildlife Sanctuary on Nov 15. "A labourer engaged in patrolling had committed the act. He has been arrested and jailed. He confessed that he had poisoned a cow killed by the tigress. The big cat came back for the kill and died of poisoning. He then took out the claws and other parts of its body," Ram Prakash, principal chief conservator of forests, Chhattisgarh told TOI over phone. Read the full report here.
Source: Avijit Ghosh & Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, New Delhi.
