Even India's showpiece tiger reserve known for the maximum density of big cats cant prevent the killings. A tigress was found dead in Bandhavgarh National Park in MP apparently poisoned though post mortem reports are still awaited. The tigersse's death means survival of its 3 cubs in the wild is also under cloud so in a sense this one death will mean a loss of 4 tigers. This incident comes a few months after anothe tiger cub was killed in the park when the driver of a tourist vehicle ran it over apparently trying to get this clients a better view of the feline hinding under the car. Another alarming report by a prominent NGO based on statistics collected from various parts of country, counts 66 tigers dead in 2009. The TOI story also cites the report attributing 23 of these deaths to poaching. Going by the normal underreporting of such incidents in our country it would be safe to assume that the real figure of tigers lost would be closer to twice the figure which means more than 125 cats lost in just 7 months. For a full year this will translate to almost 200 deaths. With new tiger births showing little signs of increase, the rate of deaths will soon take the population to a tipping point when any conservation effort will stop making a difference. So if there is atime to save the tigers it is now.
66 tigers dead in 8 monthsFuture of tiger cubs undetermined after mother’s mysterious death
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