Increase in poaching activity is taking its toll on lions, hyenas and rare birds at the Madhav National Park of Shivpuri district.

The condition of the park is so bad that the wildlife and birds are neither spotted nor the chirping of these small colourful birds is heard.

Lions, leopards, bears, peacocks and hyenas, which once inhabited the park and its locales, have since been killed by poachers on a large-scale due to the lackadaisical approach of park officials.

The situation is even worse at the Karera Sanctuary, where black bucks, chinkara, garakh and fox have been killed with impunity on a large-scale.

With the growing incidence of poaching, bustard has totally disappeared from the sanctuary. Almost a decade ago, there were as many as 97 avian species in the park. Now, there are only five-six species that have survived the poaching. The arrival of the migratory Siberian birds has also registered a steep decline.

In 1997, the number of lions at the sanctuary was 15 and a year later only two lines prowled this sanctuary, now it has only one resident lion. One or two spotted deer, sambhar, neelgai and chausingha are rarely spotted at the park.

During the last 10 years, the number of spotted deer has also climbed down from 15 to one or two only. The number of sambhar in 1997 was above 100. At present, its number is only five.

The number of black bucks two decade ago was in thousands, but now they have become extinct. The bustard has not been seen in the last 10 years.

Locals say a poacher-official nexus is responsible for the dwindling numbers of animals.