New Delhi:
In a setback to population of big cats in India, a tigress and its two cubs were found dead in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district on Monday morning. The carcasses were found near a drain in Metepur village under the Chimur forest range, Chief Conservator of Forest
S V Ramarao was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India. An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of death, he said. The Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, which is home to a number of striped animals, is located in Chandrapur district, which is around 680 km from Mumbai.
It is one of India's 41 "Project Tiger" - Tiger reserves. Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve was established as second Tiger Reserve in the Maharashtra State, in 1994-95. The area falling under the tiger reserve a unique ecosystem. Apart from tigers, the reserve also has other animals as its residents. Leopards, wild dogs, sloth bears, gaur, sambars, barking deers, cheetals, chausingas, nilgais and wild boars can be spotted in the reserve quite frequently.
As per the “Status of Tigers in India, 2014” report, released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on January 20, except for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand, most of the tiger-range states have shown a substantial increase in tiger population. “We are working on the estimation. It’s too early to predict the numbers, but considering the efforts of the ministry of environment, forest and climate (MoEFCC), the NTCA and the states that have put efforts towards saving tigers, we are hopeful of healthy figures,” Qamar Qureshi, senior scientist working on the estimation, said.
Recently, a scary video had gone viral that showed a full-grown tiger chasing down the bikers. According to media reports, the riders were travelling through Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad when the captured the frightening moment. Shared on Facebook by the Forests and Wildlife Protection Society (FAWPS), the riders were actually patrolling the sanctuary after they got a tip-off about a tiger in the area.
