According to the report, the maximum number of tigers recorded in Corbett National Park is 143. In Ranthambhore National Park, the number of tigers recorded is 40 while in Kanha, it is 61. It seems the efforts of the Rajasthan government and Wildlife Institute of India to repopulate the Sariska tiger reserve by translocating tigers from the Ranthambhore National Park has paid off. The number of tigers in Sariska, earlier recorded to be nil, has gone up to five.

As the census exercise is still incomplete, the NTCA officials did not have information on which reserve has the lowest tiger density. Tiger mortality, it was informed, is the lowest in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. “There cannot be any specific reason assigned to tiger mortality. There were a few poaching cases in Maharashtra. In an accident during military exercise, tiger cubs were killed in Uttarakhand,” said an NTCA official who did not want to be named.

In an effort by the NTCA to protect the tigers, a new tiger reserve ~ the Billigiri Ranganath Temple Tiger Reserve ~ was notified last year. An NTCA official said states have been instrumental in protecting the tigers. The field director of the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, Mr J S Chauhan, said he has striven to prevent poaching in his reserve. “There are many instances where the tigers travel long distances and land up in a different tiger reserve. I can only be held responsible for the deaths which happen in my areas,” he said.

In an attempt to save the tiger, photo records of all tigers will be maintained for the first time. Global positioning system will also be used. An NTCA official said in the earlier phases of tiger-monitoring, census was not done on an individual basis. The official said DNA fingerprinting would be used in addition to pugmarks wherever necessary. “Pugmarks are not useful on riversides where they may get erased when the water level rises. There DNA fingerprinting can be used,” said an NTCA official.