NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over recent tiger deaths in the country, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said her ministry is constantly looking into the reasons for it.
"We will have to take a look at the reasons. 17 are natural deaths, and we will look into the other deaths. We are constantly looking at the reasons. Well, poaching, you know, is an important reason which we are actively considering. The other reasons if it is a man- animal conflict we are already addressing those causes," Natarajan told media.
Natarajan further said that her ministry had not banned any researcher from going inside national parks for studying the behaviour of the wild cats.
"It is the state government issue probably we have not banned it. MoEF ( Ministry of Environment and Forests) has not banned it, if it is an issue that bothers the state govt. We will take it up with them if necessary, we have not banned anybody, certainly we have not banned researchers."
According to a report submitted by the Wildlife Protection Society of India, between 1994 and 2009, 893 cases of tiger killings have been reported in the country.
Due to deforestation, the wild animals especially tigers tend to enter the human habitats in search of food and on certain occasions the people beat them to death.
