More bad news followed, this time from Ranthambore National Park, which, NGOs claim, has no explanation for the disappearance of 18 big cats from its reserve. These developments has sent the Rajasthan state government into a tailspin as its scurries about trying to appoint committees to look into the matter. Though shocked, tiger experts are not surprised. “It’s not like this could have happened overnight. The early warning signals should have come from wildlife committees or boards, which have been appointed to monitor the situation in these parks. Considering that none of these organisations have met or discussed the issue in a long time, such disasters were bound to happen,” a noted wildlife expert said.

A case in point is the Rajasthan Wildlife Advisory Board (RWAB), which is to meet every year as per the law. This body, chaired by CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia, has not met for the past six years.It’s the same for other bodies: the steering committee for Project Tiger, which is to be convened by the minister for environment and forests, hasn’t met in the past two years. And the National Board for Wildlife, whose meetings are chaired by the prime minister, has called a meeting in March after a 17-month gap.

“Rajasthan faces a severe crisis in its national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. This is the moment for the government, both federal and state, to take corrective measures before it’s too late,” says Valmik Thapar, noted author and tiger expert. Mr Thapar is part of Ms Scindia’s committee, appointed to protect tiger reserves at Sariska, Ranthambore and Bharatpur.Even as government officials claim that there is a larger conspiracy “to unnecessarily malign the government”, they have few explanations for the current situation.

As per our census conducted in May ’04, the reserve has 39-41 tigers and a few more in buffer areas near the Kaila Devi Sanctuary,” a senior official from Ranthambore said, trashing reports by an NGO which claimed that 18 big cats were missing.

“The reports are baseless and the real figures would be available in May... Tabh doodh ka doodh, aur pani ka pani, ho jaye ga,” he said. Experts, claim that the government is just trying to buy time, hoping the issue will be forgotten.

As far as Sariska goes, experts are not willing to rule out poaching. A report by WWF clearly states that despite the lack of concrete evidence of poaching, it is highly improbable that so many tigers would just vanish in six months.

The study, conducted on request of the principal chief conservator of forests, states that the WWF team had not seen any tiger. Even indirect evidence such as calls, kills, pug marks or tiger carcasses were absent.

“We found 11 scat samples, most of which were from leopards. There were two samples which seemed to be from a tiger, but it was hard to determine how old they were,” said brigadier Ranjit Talwar, head, Protected Area Support Programme, WWF.While officials claim that the tigers might have moved into adjoining areas, experts don’t buy their argument.The focus may be on Rajasthan, but wildlife enthusiasts are concerned about the situation in the country’s 28 tiger reserves.“We are quite shocked with these reports and hope governmental agencies will consider this as a wake-up call,” says Hemendra Kothari, chairman, DSP Merill Lynch. “Not only is this majestic animal a brand for India, it is also a catalyst for the economy, through tourism,” he says.Romesh Sobti, head, ABN Amro India, believes corporates could supplement conservation projects. “Corporates could support the efforts with financial aid or sponsorships for NGOs,” he said.