Reiterating the Madhya Pradesh Government’s commitment to preserve tigers in the State, Forests, Bio-Diversity and Bio-technology Minister Gaurishankar Shejwar on Sunday said the State had an estimated 288 tigers now.
Shejwar, while addressing mediapersons here, said, “A dialogue is underway with the National Tiger Conservation Authority to bring lions from Gujarat’s Gir National Park to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Praesh and we are hoping that the lions would be translocated soon.”
The latest figure comes at a time when the State is working hard to regain the glory of being the ‘Tiger State’ which it lost to Karnataka during the last nationwide count of the big cats. During the last tiger census, the number of tigers in this State had gone down to 257 from 300 in 2006. According to the last count, Karnataka was home to 300 striped animals.
There are 78 felines in Kanha Tiger Reserve, 72 in Bandhavgarh, 45 in Pench, 30 in Panna and 10 in Sanjay Gandhi Tiger Reserve, the Minister told reporters here.
The rest of the tigers inhabited different forest areas of the State, he said. “No one can give an exact count as the tigers don’t queue up for the census,” he said to a question on the exact number of felines in the State.
To another query, he said that a Central Government agency has been assigned to foresee the translocation of lions from Gujarat’s Gir National Park to Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh has readied the Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary for housing the Gir lions, Shejwar said.
The plan to translocate some lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh was conceived to ensure that they do not become extinct in case of an outbreak of disease in that State, he said.
Meanwhile, the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad has been graded as a visitor-friendly wildlife destination for 2014 by a UK-based agency, he added. To a query, he said in all 11 big cats died this year while one carnivore was killed by poachers. When pointed out the “Tiger State” tag was snatched from Madhya Pradesh, Dr Shejwar quipped, “We do not believe in tag but the number of tigers is increasing in the State.
”The Minister said that 36 villages were earmarked for the expansion of tiger reserve and 14 villages would be displaced for this purpose. He said that State Government has demanded funds from the Centre for this project. Shejwar said that eco-tourism had already started in Panna Tiger Reserve (Buffer) while this would start in four other tiger reserves soon. He said that an eco adventure park would be set up with Private Public Participation in the Beehar river in Rewa.