India lost 14 tigers to poaching in 2019: Wildlife Crime Bureau

Noida: India lost as many as 14 tigers to poaching in 2019. Of these, Uttar Pradesh lost one, an RTI response from the Wildlife Crime Bureau of India (WCCB) has revealed. While many states were able to arrest the poachers, authorities in UP have failed to nab them.
However, the total number of tiger deaths last year in India, as per the Union ministry of environment and forests data released in January, is 95. The figure combines all deaths, including those due to health-related reasons, officials said.
As per the WCCB response, the 14 tigers were poached across India and 31 poachers have been arrested so far. Maximum poaching has been detected in Assam, Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh. Assam has lost four tigers to poaching last year, Lakshadweep three and Madhya Pradesh three.
On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh, Telengana, West Bengal and Maharashtra have each lost one tiger to poaching. Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have not been able to arrest the miscreants, according to WCCB. Madhya Pradesh is home to the maximum number of tigers in India, at 526.
“I had filed the RTI to get some information on the status of tigers in India for a project. The data is startling that some states are not taking action on poachers. I hope this data will lead to more action to curb wildlife crime,” activist Ranjan Tomar told TOI.
Indeed the data is startling given that India lost as many as 844 tigers between 2008 and 2018. “While the official figures which we have furnished to the RTI applicant is 14, this is just based on data entered by individual states. There would be many more poaching cases in each of these states, which may have gone unreported by the states,” said HV Girish, WCCB’s deputy director (northern region).