Rajasthan to set up panel to search for missing tigers

Jaipur: Rajasthan will set up a monitoring committee to search for missing tigers in the Ranthambore tiger reserve, a minister said on Tuesday.

Replying to an issue raised by Kirori Lal Meena of the National Peoples Party during Zero Hour in the assembly, Minister of State for Mines and Wildlife Rajkumar Rinwa said the state government would also set up a cell to monitor tigers.

Meena alleged that five tigers have gone missing in the last six months in the tiger reserve in Sawai Madhopur district, and raised doubts over the tiger tracking system being undertaken by the government.

Meena said the whereabouts of the tiger T-47 - also known as Mohan - and four others were not known.

The minister said that in May-June 2014, a census of tigers was conducted through camera-trapping, and it was found that there were 22 males, 21 females and 16 cubs in Ranthambore.

However, a cub died after a fight with another wild cat.

"Sometimes tigers are killed in fights between themselves and sometimes they wander into adjoining forest areas in Madhya Pradesh. Still we will make efforts to find the missing tigers," Rinwa said.

He said the census would be taken up again in the next two months.