Three tigers go missing from Ranthambore each year: NGO Tiger Watch

The Tiger Watch report pegs the number of missing big cats at 30, but between 2009 and 2019.

“The real worrying figure is that 23 out of the 30 were young tigers,” says Dharmendra Khandal, a conservation biologist who prepared the report and has been associated with Tiger Watch since 2003.

Khandal added that many tigers indeed die under natural circumstances and “recording all deaths is not possible.” His report claims that of the carcasses retrieved by the Forest Department, only two were of old tigers which died a natural death after attaining old age – Machli (T-16) and Big Daddy (T-2); these could be recovered as both were getting supplementary food during their

According to Tiger Watch, between 2005 and 2020, the number of tigers in Ranthambore has increased “from 18 to around 65 now in 2020”.

In 2015, according to the state government, there were 21 tigers and tigresses each in the reserve.

According to the Tiger Watch analysis, since 2005, the base population has grown to 138 in 2020. However, around five tigers are deducted each year from the population. Apart from the 30 missing, 26 have died – two due to old age, 11 (including 4 cubs) in territorial fights, two during rescue operations, five due to poisoning, one due to poaching, while the deaths of five others is “doubtful” – while 18 others have migrated or sent to other areas or zoos. Thus, Ranthambore has lost a total of 74 tigers since 2005.

In comparison, according to the government’s report, while 26 are missing, 13 have been trans-located, seven have migrated, seven died of natural causes and 12 died in internal fights. Following the report, BJP MP and member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Diya Kumari wrote to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar demanding a high level inquiry in the matter, accusing authorities of the park of being “half-hearted and lackadaisical” in their work.

In the letter, Kumari had said 26 tigers are missing from the park located in Sawai Madhopur district; she was an MLA from Sawai Madhopur between 2013 and 2018.

Following the controversy over the report, Rajasthan Chief Wildlife Warden Arindam Tomar, directed the Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), to investigate the causes behind the missing tigers and submit a report within 15 days.

Although Congress leaders claim that most of these deaths took place under BJP rule, a perusal of Tiger Watch report points out that 15 tigers each have gone missing during the BJP and the Congress regimes.

As many as 14 tigers went missing between 2009-13, when the Ashok Gehlot government was in power, and then one went missing in the year 2019 under his tenure. Similarly, 15 tigers went missing between 2014 and 2018, when Vasundhara Raje was the Chief Minister.

In recent years, the worst phase for tigers in Rajasthan was perhaps 2004-05, when all the 17 tigers at Sariska sanctuary, counted in 2004, went missing in 2005, as per a wildlife committee constituted by the Raje government then.