NTCA SEEKS REPORT ON RANTHAMBORE MISSING TIGERS

NEW DELHI: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has sought a report from Rajasthan government on a complaint by a wildlife activist regarding missing tigers from its Ranthambore reserve, according to official documents.

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey had written to the NTCA seeking a high-level inquiry on reports of tigers poaching in Ranthambore.

“There have been reports of missing tigers from Ranthambore. It is feared that tigers are being poached regularly,” Dubey had said in the letter.

Acting on his complaint, the NTCA sent a letter to the chief wildlife warden of Rajasthan seeking a report on “factual status and updates”.

A copy of the letter sent to the state government by the NTCA was received in response to an RTI query filed by Dubey.

There are about 2,226 tigers in India, according to a latest report on the big cats census. Of these, 45 were in Rajasthan.

Dubey, referring to another letter written by the Rajasthan government in 2017 to the NTCA, said that the state forest department instead of taking stern measures against the poachers wanted to stop monitoring of tigers that are no more traceable or moved to other forest areas.

As per the protocol, tigers need to be provided with IDS for their monitoring. The Rajasthan government had then proposed that the monitoring of tigers, as mentioned in the protocol, that are not traceable, died or moved to other areas be stopped.

Replying to the move, the NTCA had asked Rajasthan government not to stop the monitoring as it is crucial for long term evaluation of tigers population, according to the letter.

A WILDLIFE ACTIVIST HAD WRITTEN TO THE NTCA SEEKING A HIGHLEVEL INQUIRY INTO THE REPORTS OF TIGER POACHING IN PARK