Reacting to Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Vijay Shah told PTI that the typical death rate of tigers was less compared to their birth rate within the state in last six years.
According to the National Tiger Conservation Authoritys (NTCA) website, out of the 26 tiger deaths reported since April this year, MP lost 21 felines inside the tiger reserves, including 10 within the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
No tiger death was reported within the first three months of this year, as per the info.
In 2019, the state lost 28 tigers while three cases of seizures of body parts thanks to poaching were also reported.
Karnataka, which is on the second position within the number of tigers within the country, registered eight deaths and two seizures of tiger body parts this year, as per the info .
The southern state lost 12 big cats last year.
“Right now, MP has 124 tiger cubs. The cubs weren’t counted during the last census (in 2018). within the next count, we are getting to have quite 600 tigers,” Shah said.
“We have more tigers than the world for them. Take the instance of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve-it has 125 tigers whereas it’s the territory to deal with only 90,” he said.
The minister attributed the large number of tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh to the territorial fight among the large cats for space and dominance.
Earlier, MP had lost the ‘tiger state’ tag to Karnataka within the all India tiger estimation exercise for 2010, primarily thanks to alleged poaching within the Panna Tiger Reserve.
That time, MP had 257 tigers compared to 300 in Karnataka.
