69 tigers die in 9 months; only 1,706 left
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The National Tiger Conservation Authority has admitted that tiger deaths are on the rise: 69 of them having been killed or died naturally in the past nine months.
“While 41 tigers were killed due to poaching or in road-hits and other accidents, the other 28 were natural deaths,” said NTCA assistant inspector-general Rajiv Sharma. He added that the maximum number of tiger deaths took place in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and MP, citing the case of four tiger cubs who were burnt alive at a military farm in Uttarakhand earlier this year.
These deaths have brought down India’s tiger count to 1,706. This includes 61 tigers at the Kanha reserve, 143 at Corbett National Park, 22 in and around the Tadoba reserve, 65 at Mudumalai and 40 at Ranthambore tiger reserve.
Minister of state for environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan, at a meeting to commemorate Wildlife Week, stressed the need to notify both critical wildlife habitats and corridors around these areas, including elephant corridors.
“These areas will then become legal entities and there will be no scope for their destruction,” the minister said.
“I will make sure that habitats and corridors of wildlife are well protected and local people are part of the conservation,” said Ms Natarajan, adding: “The anthropogenic pressure on our forests and wildlife is much more than ever before due to the thrust on economic growth and creation of more jobs. However, I will stop at nothing to preserve wildlife as environment minister.”
Ms Natarajan said she would ensure that conservation becomes a “mainstream agenda in the economy, government and bureaucracy”. She noted how Project Tiger’s geographical coverage had extended from nine to 41 reserves, and how funding for it had also been increased.
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