Over the past few years, India has somehow managed to save its national animal, the Royal Bengal Tiger, from the brink of extinction but recent official data from the central government has revealed that India lost as many as 750 tigers in the last eight years to poaching and other activities. Of these total tiger mortalities, 369 were due to natural causes while 168 died due to poaching. The death of 70 tigers is still under scrutiny and 42 died due to unnatural reasons, including accident or conflicts events. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) stated that there was also the seizure of 101 big cats during the eight years between 2012 and 2019 by different authorities across the country.
Madhya Pradesh reported the highest casualties at 173. However, the state also has the highest number of tigers in the country which stands at 526. Maharashtra reported the second-highest deaths with 125 followed by Karnataka with 111 while Uttarakhand reported 88. Tamil Nadu and Assam both have recorded 54 deaths each. Wildlife activists have repeatedly raised concerns over the deaths of tigers. “It is a matter of grave concern that tigers in such large numbers have died due to poaching and other reasons. There is a need for stricter penal provisions for those found guilty of wildlife crimes, says Ajay Dubey, a tiger activist based out of Bhopal. He further adds that attention must be paid on Tiger tourism by state governments concerned which is affecting their natural habitat. “There is a need to speed up the efforts to conserve the tiger. The government must frame stricter punishment for wildlife-related crimes,” says Dubey.
Data from the 2018 tiger census showed that the range for the total tiger population in the wild is 2,603-3,346. The population has increased by nearly 33% since the last census in 2014 when the total estimate was 2,226. While this is definitely a piece of good news, there are also major concern as the country’s national animal is slowly moving forward on the path of extinction.
