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According
to the last tiger census, there were only 257 tigers left in Madhya
Pradesh's six tiger reserves- Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Bori-Satpura,
Sanjay Dubri, and Pench.
INDORE: Madhya Pradesh
that is in loggerhead with Gujarat over translocation of lions is now
confident to reclaim its 'tiger state' tag in the next census. Forest minister of Madhya Pradesh Sartaj Singh on Thursday said numbers of tigers have increased significantly and state is all set to emerge number one in terms of tigers.
Minister claims that he is getting reports of encouraging increase in number of tigers at Panna and Kanha Tiger reservers,
the number of tiger cubs in other reserves across the state is also
looking up. He further said total number of tigers in state might go
close to 300 in next census.
According to the last tiger census
there were only 257 tigers left in the state's six tiger reserves-
Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay Dubri, and Pench.
Minister said they had objected to the figures last census released by
WII and National Tiger Conservation Authourity (NTCA). He said that WII
and NTCA had admitted their mistake after conducting re-counting in
Kanha Tiger Reserve. "But they said figure can not be changed now after
it being released," said Singh adding that even the figure of 300 tiger
in Karnataka was not correct. So they are very confident about
reclaiming tag of 'tiger state'.
On the allegation of poaching
being one the main reason behind decline in number of tigers, minister
said Madhya Pradesh was at number four in terms of tiger death in 2012.
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttarakhand are leading the list. Last year
nearly 12 tigers died many of them died natural deaths or accidents
because most of the cases carcases were found. He added that poachers do
not leave body behind.
An NGO has submitted its report to
Gujarat forest department that has stated that lions should not be
translocated to Kuno as Madhya Pardesh is known to be a major poaching
ground and the state has lost 453 tigers out of 710 (63% loss) in a
decade. The state as per the 2011 census has only 257 tigers. The loss
of tiger in Madhya Pradesh was 50 per cent of the total loss of the
tigers across the world.
Minister said these figures are
inflated and they object it in SC. "We have one very basic argument one
species should be restrict to only one geographical area. So lion should
be translocated to other area and several surveys were done before
finalising Kuno as second home of lion," said minister.
Minister
said to oppose translocation NGO report has calimed that Sheopur
district has 4800 fire arm licenses for a population of six lakh and the
sanctuary area was once a hub of dacoits from Chambal. "First there is
need to cross check the statistics of report, second does it mean that
everyone with gun license is waiting with their gun to kill lion," said
minister.
He further said concentration of one species at one
place is good for that particular species. "For this very purpose we are
translocating Barasingha from Kanha to Satpura," said minister. Right
now Barashinga are only at Kanha forest department want to spread it to
other areas also. It applies on lion too.
