The roaring increase of the tiger population gives much to celebrate as another World Tiger Day passes by. However, with the rise in population, comes the upward trend in deaths.
The first six months of the year has seen more tiger deaths – from natural and ‘unnatural’ causes – than the whole of last year. According to the public database maintained by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the State saw ten tigers die till June-end, an increase from seven tigers (including one ‘man-eater’ tiger being shot down near Belagavi) last year.
The deaths of tigers seem to be concentrated in the forests of the contiguous corridor of Nagarahole, Bandipur and Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) tiger reserves.
Bandipur, for instance, has seen five tigers – including two four-month-old pups – die this year. “Only one of the five deaths has been labelled as suspicious and we are awaiting results from the viscera samples sent. The rest are natural deaths,” said H.C. Kantharaj, director of the reserve.
He believed the spikes were linked to the thriving tiger population of the area. The recent tiger census in 2014 showed the 11,000-sq.km Nilgiri Biosphere (which includes sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu and Kerala) housing 570 tigers, of which at least 250 are estimated to reside in southern Karnataka.
“The parks are reaching saturation point. Territorial conflicts are on the rise, and many aged tigers are being pushed out of the forest limits. We have seen tigers spilling out into neighbouring plantations,” said Mr. Kantharaj.
