Madhya Pradesh has recorded 30 tiger deaths in 2016, earning the dubious distinction of becoming the state with the highest tiger mortality in the country.
As per the last tiger census findings announced in January 2015, the state had 308 tigers in the wild.
In other words, the state has lost almost a tenth of its recorded tiger population in the last one year.
Tiger deaths in MP also account for a third of the total tiger deaths in the country in 2016 (98).
From being the state with the highest number of tigers in the country till recently to this, MP’s slide has been drastic.
As in the rest of the country, tiger numbers have been a cause for concern in Madhya Pradesh too.
However, other states, especially Karnataka and Uttarakhand, have done better in managing tigers than MP - a state that boasts of a strong and dedicated forest department.
In the 2006 census, Madhya Pradesh recorded 300 tigers and revelled in being referred to as the ‘tiger state’ of the country - a tag it had assigned itself - as the state then was home to the largest tiger population in India
In the 2010 census, the findings of which were announced in 2011, MP with a recorded population of 257 big cats slipped to number two spot in terms of tiger numbers after Karnataka ( 300 tigers).
In the 2014 census, Karnataka (with 406 tigers) had taken pole position and in the 2014 census, the findings of which were announced in 2015, MP slipped to third position after Karnataka and Uttarakhand (340 tigers).
Madhya Pradesh is home to some of the most renowned tiger reserves in the country - Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna and Pench - where a large number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, arrive to see the big cat.
Minus the tourist arrivals from outside the state (both domestic and foreign) to the tiger reserves (and Khajuraho, which is clubbed by tourists with the Panna tiger reserve) there isn’t substantial tourist footfall in MP.
The tiger, in that sense, has helped build brand MP more than the tourism development corporation which was set up with that express purpose.
Tigers are to Madhya Pradesh what the Taj Mahal is to UP, the beaches are to Goa, and palaces and forts are to Rajasthan; the tiger is the icon, besides of course the Khajuraho temples, that draw tourists to the state.
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