The country has lost 63 of its wild tigers in 2013. The first tiger death of the year was reported from South Brahmapuri forest range of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra on January 6, 2013. It was caused by suspected poaching. The last wild tiger death of the year was reported from the Heggadadevana Kote range of Mysore forest division in Karnataka on December 28, 2013 and the cause is under investigation.
A good majority of the wild tiger deaths in the country, 48 to be specific, was the result of poaching, according to data on the wild tiger deaths released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Old age as the cause of death was reported only in two instances. One at Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha on February 16 and the other at Kharangana forest range in Maharashtra on August 25. Two tigers were killed by poisoning — one at Kaziranga Tiger Reserve Assam reported on September 15, 2013 and the other at Pilibhit forest division of Uttar Pradesh on November 26, 2013.
One tiger in Gondia district of Maharashtra was shot dead by forest authorities on January 12, 2013 because it was confirmed to be a man-eater. In another instance reported on February 2, 2013 a tiger cub was killed and partly eaten by an adult tiger male tiger in Panna Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. Another cub had died after falling off a high cliff in Ramnagar forest division of Uttarakhand and the incident was reported on March 8, 2013.
One tiger was killed by train hit at the forests of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra on April 15, 2013 and in the same incident another tiger was also injured, the NTCA reports. The highest number of wild tiger deaths was reported from Karnataka —16, followed by Maharashtra with 9. From Assam and Uttarakhand, 8 deaths each were reported.
Out of the 16 wild tiger deaths in Karnataka, five each were reported from the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. Five wild tiger deaths were reported from Kerala during the year and four of them occurred at the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Only one wild tiger death was reported from Tamil Nadu, at the Nilgiri south division forests on March 11, 2013.
In 2012, the number of wild tiger deaths as reported by the NTCA was 72. It was from Maharashtra that the highest number of tiger death were reported that year —13, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 12 deaths and Uttarakhand in the third position with 11 deaths.
In Kerala, five wild tiger deaths were reported in 2012 and one of them was shot dead by the Forest Department on December 2, 2012 at the Wayanad Wldlife sanctuary after confirming that it was a man eater.
