Madhya Pradesh releases tiger stats

Sunday 14 December – Bhopal
Madhya Pradesh has nearly 288 tigers, state Forests Minister Dr Gaurishankar Shejwar tells reporters.

The latest figure comes at a time when the state is working hard to regain the title of being the ‘Tiger State’ which it lost to Karnataka during the last nationwide count of the big cats.

During the last tiger census, the number of tigers in this state had gone down to 257 from 300 in 2006. According to the last count, Karnataka was home to 300 tigers.

According to the census it shows healthy populations in Kanha Tiger Reserve and Bandhavgarh, with about half as many in Pench and Panna and a small population in Sanjay Gandhi Tiger Reserve. Other tigers also inhabit other forest areas of the state.

“No one can give an exact count as the tigers don’t queue up for the census,” said the Minister when asked about the exact number of felines in the state.

“The all India tiger census numbers covering all states in India will be released early in 2015. Based on information from camera traps they capture data from adult cats and not cubs, so the figures give a good guestimate,” says TigerTime.

Find out more about TigerTime’s work to protect tigers at www.tigertime.info