- Poachers be damned! The axe man come’th!

Published by -NAWA News Feed- in -Wildlife News- · Thursday 09 Feb 2023
Tags: Tiger, Poaching, Ranthambore, National, Park

India has shown the world how tiger conservation is done. Ranthambhore National Park is one of India’s largest tiger preserves. It is a national park in Rajasthan, India, with an area of 1,334 km2 (515 sq mi). It is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. It is named after the historic Ranthambore Fort, which lies within the park, and is now how the largest population of wild tigers. Ranthambore was also home to the famed “Machali”, the world’s most photographed tiger ever.

In 2015 the India government put their foot down on poachers and issued an order to wardens TO SHOOT ALL POACHERS ON SITE, period. That year just over 20 poachers were shot and killed inside the national parks. And guess what? The tiger and rhino populations sky rocketed!

But it seems that Ranthambhore is seeing an uptick in poacher activity.

T 114 female was found dead in Ranthambhore National Park this month. She was the daughter of T 42 “Fateh”. T 114’s one cub died as per news the same week. How did T 114 die ? What weird reason could have happened ?

Her father, T 42 also died a mysterious death who had a territory in the same range where camera traps had captured poachers in the act. He also has a daughter, T 114 who may have fallen to poachers.

Below is the picture of T 108 “Jai” the matting partner of T 114 who’s two cubs are left behind and shows a snare around his neck in December 2020. In the past T 23 (male), T 42 (male), T 43 (male), T 77 (male), T 78 (female) have gone missing or dead from the same or nearby area. Ranthambhore National Park is famous for it’s ability to track it’s wild tiger population, and for tigers to disappear completely is highly suspect of poachers.

How safe are the tigers in Ranthambhore? One thing is certain, Park Wardens are about to drop the hammer on these bad actors, and hard!

T 57 (male) is now dead, T 19 “Krishna” is a bad state which is visible buy lastest photographs. T 118 (female) , daughter of T 72 “Sultan” presumed dead somewhere leaving behind her small cubs in Kailadevi ( part of Ranthambhore tiger reserve ) , Now T 114 (female) and her one cub.

Park Wardens are readdressing their tactics and once again the hammer is about to fall. We will be watching this situation as it develops.