BHOPAL: A tiger carcass was found during a survey at Bandhavgarh reserve in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday. This brings the death toll to six in a week and 54 so far this year in the state with India’s largest number of big cats. This is Madhya Pradesh’s highest annual number of deaths since Project Tiger was launched in 1973. The state had reported 46 deaths in 2024, 45 in 2023, 43 in 2022 and 34 in 2021.Officials said the carcass was found under suspicious circumstances by forest rangers involved in a field exercise for All India Tiger Estimation near a power line in Chandia forest area of Umaria district in Bandhavgarh reserve on Saturday.An electric shock cannot be ruled out. Electricity infrastructure is being examined to determine whether exposed or illegal lines led to the tiger’s death. In recent years, electrocution has emerged as one of the recurring causes of death for tigers in the state. The carcass will be sent for postmortem, officials said, and samples will also be sent for forensic analysis if there is any suspicion of crime.However, forest officials clarified that most of the deaths this year were due to natural causes and were due to a growing tiger population. “The more numbers, the more deaths. This is natural,” said an official, requesting anonymity.Forest department sources pointed out that higher numbers inevitably lead to higher mortality figures, especially in landscapes with dense big cat populations. They said the majority of deaths this year were likely due to violent fights for territorial dominance, particularly between adult males and dispersing subadults.But conservationists said repeated deaths – even if natural – underscore the need for better management of habitat and mitigation of preventable threats. “I don’t know why the forest department officials are calm about these deaths. If tigers are being electrocuted in core areas of tiger reserves, it cannot be natural. There are poachers who are targeting herbivores using power lines and the officials need to check the lines and previous recommendations,” said Ajay Dubey, a wildlife activist.
