Seven Tigers Are 'Missing' From Rajasthan's Ranthambore Since A Year, Activists Concerned
Seven tigers including two cubs are reportedly missing from the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan for nearly a year now, causing concerns among conservationists that they could have been poached.
Though the Ranthambore National Park authorities are yet to officially confirm the incident, there is consensus that at least four of them are not currently in the reserve.
But according to an NGO, Tiger Watch, which is working in and around Ranthambhore towards the conservation of the big cats, a total of seven tigers are missing there.
They have identified the missing big cats as T-73 and her two cubs, T-64, T-95, T-97 and T-92.?
Tiger Watch said out of the seven missing tigers, six have not been found since March 2020 and the seventh, T-92, went missing in Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary in May 2020.
"The possibility of a negative human intervention being a cause cannot be ruled out. This could be a part of a broader negative impact on protected areas experienced during the onset of COVID-19," the NGO stated in a Facebook post.
The Times of India, quoting sources reported that the tigers are missing from the non-tourism zone. Experts have not ruled out the possibility of poisoning by villagers as widespread grazing in the tiger reserve remains persistent.
At last count in 2020, RTR had up to 75 adult tigers and 18 cubs in an area spread over 1,700 square km.
Like many Tiger reserves in India, Ranthambore too has been facing a problem of plenty due to overpopulation.
In the past too there have been cases of big cats moving out of Ranthambore to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh due to the shrinking of their space.
As the population of big cats has increased in Ranthambore, so have the human-animal conflicts.
Last year it was reported that the tigers in Ranthambore are becoming more aggressive due to the lack of area and increasing human activity including tourism.
One of the several measures that were suggested to reduce the stress of RTR was to relocate at least some of them to another sanctuary.
