53 tigers died in Vidarbha in two-and-a-half years
| Date :30-Sep-2019 |
Special Correspondent :
Of them, 17 tigers were poached
As many as 53 tigers died due to natural reasons, poaching and accidents in Vidarbha jungle from January 1, 2017 to July 31, 2019 in a period little over two-and-a-half years. This includes menacing T1 tigress that was shot dead on the night of November 2, 2018, following orders by the Chief Wildlife Warden. Of them, 17 were killed by poachers by electrocution and poisoning. In 2017, nine tigers were poached while the poaching figure was three in 2018 and five in 2019. Of the total tigers, 31 tigers died due to natural reasons while four tigers were killed in different accidents. This information was revealed by Forest Department in response to an RTI query raised by Abhay Kolarkar.
He sought information about deaths of tigers occurred from January 1, 2014 to July 31, 2019 but the department provided information for two-and-a-half years. It only referred to a poaching case of a tiger by way of electrocution occurred on November 11, 2016 in field belonging to Rekhabai Sundarshah Kodape in Dhanapur village, Kothari Forest Range in Central Chanda Division. It gave no numbers of tiger deaths from 2014 to 2016 even after asked for.
The department supplied information about highest number of poaching of tigers in 2017. Six tigers were killed by way of electrocution and three due to poisoning at Khapa, Nagbhir, Pipariya-Deolarpar range in Pench Tiger Reserve, Karanja, Chamorshi, Chimur and Paoni areas. The department filed two cases in the court while it is making investigation in five cases and then file the cases.
The department also gave details about poaching of eight tigers in 2018 and 19 in Moharli, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Paoni in Umre-Karandla Wildlife Sanctuary, Nakadongri in Bhandara district, Chimur in Chandrapur district and Chaurakund in Melghat Tiger Reserve. In response to the query, the department mentioned that the number of tigers in Maharashtra was 190 as per All India Tiger Estimation Programme held in 2014. Kolarkar wanted jungle-wise number of tigers but it is not available in the programme. The department found 203 tigers after conducting camera trap estimation in Maharashtra in 2014-15. It mentioned that as many as 312 tigers exist in Maharashtra, following tiger estimation conducted in 2018.