Madhya Pradesh Strategy For Tigers
Balancing the population of predators and prey was a key factor enabling a 50% surge in Madhya Pradesh’s tiger population.
An update to the 2022 tiger census published reported a count of 3,682 nationally, with Madhya Pradesh, for the second time in the past three censuses, reporting the highest number at 785.
The State has reported a 50% rise in the number of tigers since the previous census.
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department’s strategy of actively moving tigers and their prey within the State, to balance predator and prey population, was a key indicator of success.
They have effectively restored low-density areas through
incentivised voluntary village relocations,
prey supplementation,
reintroduction of species such as Barasingha (swamp deer) to new habitats like Satpura and Bandhavgarh,
the reintroduction of Gaur to Bandhavgarh and Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserves.
Prey species such as chital (spotted deer) have been successfully supplemented in Satpuda, Sanjay Tiger Reserves, Nauradehi, Kuno, and Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuaries through translocation from high-density areas such as Pench and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves.
M.P. historically has a commitment to wildlife conservation and well-trained officers, active prey management is unique to it among other States.
This means, for instance, identifying regions that have, say, a large number of chital, and moving some to a region where there are fewer.
Once populations of preys reach critical numbers in the new area, tigers – if there are too many in one part – are safely translocated here.
This is a hard, labour-intensive exercise.
While nature usually corrects imbalances between predator and prey populations, the process can take a long time.
Given the myriad pressures on the wild habitat — such as diminishing protected areas in forests and human-wildlife conflict — active prey management was necessary.
Lessons for Cheetah reintroduction programme.
The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh is currently host to African cheetahs, with six of the 20 already dead since the first animals were translocated in September 2022.
Experts says that to form a viable cheetah population, we need to follow similar principles of active prey management.
Tiger population in Madhya Pradesh
India has 53 tiger reserves, with Madhya Pradesh accounting for six of them.
Madhya Pradesh has the most tigers.
The most populous reserves are the Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, followed by the Bandipur and Nagarhole reserves in Karnataka.
However, five out of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh have over 50 tigers.
This is not counting the 563 tigers that have been reported outside the reserves but within the State’s forest divisions.
Tiger reserves are regions within national parks, specifically demarcated for tiger conservation.
Madhya Pradesh, as many other States, has more tigers outside the reserves than within them.
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