After 16 deaths were reported in 2012, the toll had decreased in the subsequent years. However, it reached alarming levels in 2016. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department said territorial clashes, poaching or natural deaths caused the high fatalities in the state.

However, the tiger population has increased in Madhya Pradesh in last five years, as more cubs were born during this period. MP’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, Jitendra Agrawal told PTI that there are 216 tigers in the state’s six tiger reserves – Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Panna, Satpura and Sanjay National Park. The last tiger death in MP took place on December 28 in Hoshangabad district, when a tigress was run over by a speeding train. Agrawal told The Times of India that he was examining if there is a “provision to take legal action in such cases”.