Little over a decade has passed since Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district of Rajasthan lost all its tigers to poaching. The horrific times for wildlife conservation are still etched in the memories of wildlife lovers. Major accomplishments have been achieved in the field of wildlife conservation since then, but now Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve seems to be facing a similar threat.
A forest department document in possession of DNA reveals that ten tigers are missing from the park. What's more, the most recent camera trap image of one of the tigers is from January 2015, nearly two and a half years back. Considering the long time-gap between their disappearance and now, the department is running an exercise in removing them from its list of tigers at Ranthambhore. And the catch is, the officials don't even know what fate befell these big cats.
"We are running an exercise to eliminate those tigers from the list that have not been sighted for the past several years. Their carcasses have not been recovered, and thus they should be struck out from out lists," said YK Sahu, Conservator of Forest and Field Director of Ranthambore Tiger Project.
The question is, how can a tiger — the mainstay of tourism in Ranthambhore — disappear without a trace, and the forest department keeps scratching its head. Interestingly, even the Field Director agreed that the tigers move out in the periphery areas where they are lost.
The document, undersigned by Sahu, states that territorial adjustments keep happening, and due to the elusive behavior of tigers and remoteness of areas in which they make territories, they cannot be tracked every time.
