Madhya Pradesh got the status of Tiger State by occupying the top place with 526 tigers in the tiger census conducted three years ago at all India level. According to the preliminary indications of the census to be conducted this year, there is a strong possibility of Madhya Pradesh getting recognition as Tiger State this time also.

Madhya Pradesh has held the tag of Tiger State in the last decade except in the census of the year 2010 and 2014 when the state of Karnataka remained at top place with maximum tigers.

The state government carried out several innovations to ensure wildlife conservation, due to which Madhya Pradesh became the foundation stone of the process of Tiger State.

In the last one and a half decade, 167 villages from protected areas were rehabilitated at suitable places to provide habitat for tigers and other wild animals. More than 15,000 family units living with minimum facilities under inaccessible forest areas were brought out of the forests and settled in village-towns. As a result, wild animals got a free habitat without any disturbance. Along with this, the financial condition of the forest dwellers also improved. In all these innovations, an amount of Rs 900 crore was made available by the state government.

The tigers of the state are found not only in the Tiger Reserves but are also found roaming like other animals in other regional forest divisions even in the limits of big cities like Bhopal.  In the year 2018, the tigers had become extinct in Panna. An active initiative was taken by the Forest Department for tiger conservation, in which tigers were brought from other protected areas and resettled in Panna Tiger Reserve. Due to the continuous efforts of last 9 years, today Panna Tiger Reserve has returned to its old glory.

More than 20 adult tigers and 15 sub adult tigers/cubs are present here. Around 50 tigers including cubs are available in the entire Panna landscape.

In the year 2005-06, a new initiative to release the abandoned orphan cubs in their natural habitat was started in the state. Due to this the orphaned tiger cubs reach the zoo.

It was possible to release them into their natural habitat as soon as they became adults. In the Ghorela enclosure of Kanha Tiger Reserve, 9 tiger cubs have been released after they turned adult. This success of the state has got fame all over the world as "Ghorela" model.

Tiger census in India is done every 4 years. It has three stages. In the first phase, the data of tigers, other carnivorous and large herbivorous animals, i.e. their claw prints, their droppings, scratch marks and the hunts made by them etc. are collected. This tiger assessment is called "Phase One".