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Tiger population goes down in Madhya Pradesh

Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL: The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Tiger Conservation Authority jointly presented in New Delhi on Wednesday figures indicating a major decline in the number of tigers in Madhya Pradesh.

According to information received here, the WII-Tiger Conservation Authority figures indicate that the estimated tiger count in the State has come down to about 276. These figures were presented at a seminar organised at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

According to the available information, the estimated tiger population in the Kanha landscape was 89 (confidence interval of 73-105).

The estimated tiger count was 47 in Bandhavgarh and adjoining forest division (confidence interval of 37-56), 33 in Pench landscape (confidence interval of 26-39), 39 in Satpura (confidence interval of 26-51), 24 in Panna (confidence interval of 15-32), and a mean count of 4.5 tigers (3-6) in Kuno, 18.5 tigers (14-23) in Jabalpur, Damoh and Sagar, 12 tigers (9-15) in Betul-Hoshangabad and 9.5 tigers (7-12) in Raisen.

`National crisis'

Reacting on the present scenario, renowned wildlife expert Raghunandan Singh Chundawat termed it a national crisis and added: "So far we have been misled by a figure of 712 tigers in Madhya Pradesh."

He called for drastic action to save the remaining tiger population.

Based on the figures, the maximum loss of tigers was in the Kanha landscape where there were more than 120 tigers only in the Kanha Tiger Reserve.

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