Kerala is likely to have yet another tiger reserve soon in addition to the existing reserves, Periyar and Parambikulam, if the steps in this direction progress seamlessly. Reports from Delhi quoting the National Tiger Conservation Authority said that the Kerala Government had given in-principle clearance for the formation of Wayanad Tiger Reserve in northern Kerala.

The proposed tiger reserve will have an area of 344 square kilometers, which is presently known as the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, lying in the Nilgiri biosphere and contiguous to the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and Muthumalai tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu. However, the State Forest Department has denied reports on the in-principle clearance for the reserve.

The Wayanad Tiger Reserve will have three forest ranges—Sulthan Batheri, Tholpetty and Kurichyad—in it. Though efforts to upgrade the wildlife sanctuary into a tiger reserve have not been successful so far, tiger census was being conducted at the sanctuary at regular intervals and the results had shown the need of transforming it into a reserve.

Experts differ on the tiger population present in Wayanad. They say that studies on the population of tigers in Wayanad sanctuary cannot be conducted without taking into consideration the peculiarities of the adjacent Bandipur and Muthumalai reserves. However, they agree that Wayanad could have a minimum of 30 tigers though one study had put the number as 78.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had participated in the meeting held by the National Tiger Conservation Authority over the formation of the Wayanad Tiger Reserve and he had informed the authority of the concerns of the local people over the possibility of their eviction from the core and buffer areas of the reserve.

The Chief Minister has reportedly given instructions for conducting awareness programmes in the region on the matter. As per rough estimates, about 800 families will have to be rehabilitated as the areas including the tiger reserve are declared a special zone. There will be strict controls on construction and other activity even in the buffer zone outside the core area.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that the Centre will provide all technical and financial necessary assistance if the Kerala Government submits to it the project for a tiger reserve. Sources in the Kerala Forest Department agreed that the State would get increased Central assistance once the sanctuary was transformed into a tiger reserve.

Kerala's first tiger reserve, Periyar, with an area of 925 sq km had come into being in 1978. The declaration of the second tiger reserve in Kerala, Parambikulam, having an area of 641 sq km took place in 2010.

Meanwhile, reports on the prospect of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary getting declared as a tiger reserve have heightened the anxieties of the people living in areas that might come within its core and buffer areas. Settler farmers in the region fear that the formation of the tiger reserve would mean their eviction from their farmlands and homes.

Several areas in Wayanad had witnessed intense agitations in 2012 over reports of a Kerala Government plan to convert the Wayanad sanctuary into a tiger reserve and incursions by two tigers into villages adjacent to the forests had resulted in law and order problems. The Chief Minister himself had to assure the people that there was no such move to pacify the protestors.