30 Tigers die in 2 months: Why tiger deaths rise between January and March?

30 tigers have died in the last 2 months and around half of those deaths have occurred in tiger reserves, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officials have said. However, there is no cause for panic as these casualties are normal, NTCA officials added.

As per NTCA, the number of deaths among tigers usually goes up between January-March. A significant part of these tiger deaths come from reserves like Ranthambore, Jim Corbett, Kanha, Kaziranga, Panna, Satpura, Orang, Sathyamangalam and Pench.

16 of the 30 deaths happened in areas that are outside Tiger reserves. State-wise, Madhya Pradesh saw the highest tiger casualties at 9, followed by Maharashtra which saw seven tiger deaths.

Spike in tiger deaths normal during January-March

Officials say that it is normal for the number of tiger deaths to rise during this time period, NTCA data reveals. During this time, tigers move out of their territories which can lead to conflict between the big cats, territorial fights. 

Furthermore, MP and Maharashtra have a “healthy tiger population” which is the reason for the high death tolls in these two states. They have said that the casualties are not alarming. In fact, tiger deaths are naturally bound to rise with increasing tiger population, which appears to be the case. NTCA officials have been quoted as saying that annual deaths of around 200 tigers is “not untoward”. Tiger population has increased by 6%.