A third of Ranthambore’s 75 tigers ‘missing’, Rajasthan sets up probe committee

As per Upadhayay, determination are an estimated 75 tigers successful Ranthambore, not counting tigers T-58 and T-86 – some of which died recently.

His bid cited a study dated October 14, which states that nary factual grounds of 11 tigers has been received for much than a year, and the aforesaid for 14 tigers successful little than a year. According to Upadhyay, successful specified a situation, it is due that an enquiry committee beryllium constituted to look into the matter. The committee volition analyse the missing tigers and taxable its study to him.

The three-member committee comprises APCCF (Wildlife) Rajesh Kumar Gupta, arsenic good arsenic Forest Department officials Dr T Mohan Raj and Manas Singh. They person been tasked to contiguous their study successful 2 months.

The committee has been asked to find retired the efforts made by the Field Director and the acrophobic Deputy Field Director to hint the tigers, analyse each records of tiger monitoring, suggest disciplinary enactment successful lawsuit of negligence by immoderate acrophobic official, and database suggestions to region the shortcomings of the system.

“When I became the Chief Wildlife Warden, I started studying the Tiger Monitoring Reports. I wrote the archetypal missive successful this respect successful April 2024…but the reply was not satisfactory,” Upadhyay said. He said that arsenic for the 14 missing tigers that were past spotted wrong a year, the oldest photograph for 1 was from May 17, 2024 and the latest is from September 30. “But adjacent a period is simply a agelong time,” Upadhyay said.

He, however, said this doesn’t mean these tigers person been killed oregon poached. “It could beryllium that possibly they aren’t being captured successful the camera trap. We cod grounds successful 3 ways: 1 is pugmarks, the 2nd is nonstop sighting and the 3rd is camera trap, with the past 2 being astir reliable. So, if they are not being spotted, past possibly the tigers are successful specified a spot wherever they aren’t being spotted, oregon that they whitethorn person migrated to a antithetic spot. Some of our tigers spell to Kuno portion immoderate travel present from there. We are not ruling retired immoderate possibility, and the committee’s study volition marque it clear,” helium said.