Report finds presence of at least 352 tigers, 635 leopards in Vidarbha in 2021

NAGPUR: The latest (2021) report by the state forest department, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) reveals there are minimum 352 tigers and 635 leopards in Vidarbha.
In 2020, the Phase IV monitoring of tigers, an annual exercise conducted by all tigers reserves, had put the tiger numbers at 331, but due to Covid, not all tiger-bearing areas were scanned.The All India Tiger Estimation-2018 (AITE) conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had estimated presence of 312 tigers in Maharashtra.

The AITE-2018 figure cannot be considered for comparison now as it is almost three years since the four-year national exercise was undertaken.
Tiger numbers in Maharashtra have been consistently rising. In 2006, the state had 103 tigers, the number increased to 168 in 2010, 190 in 2014, and 312 in 2018 and now it is 352. And it is being estimated that the number is even bigger.
The 2021 report on ‘Long-term monitoring of tigers, co-predators, and prey in tiger bearing areas of Vidarbha, Maharashtra’ puts the minimum number of tigers at 352 with an estimation of 396 (359-433).
The minimum number of leopards is 635 with a population estimation of 731 (663-798) in the Vidarbha landscape. As per AITE-2018, there were 1,690 leopards in entire Maharashtra.
PCCF (wildlife) Sunil Limaye attributed the rise in the number of tigers and leopards to strong state government policies and conservation efforts by the forest staff, NGOs and media awareness. Protecting the growing numbers of tigers is a big challenge before the department.
“The number increased because this time extensive monitoring and sampling efforts were taken than last year in both protected areas (PAs) and outside PAs. The number of camera traps pairs and sampling days was also more,” Limaye told TOI.
In 2020, estimation was done only in limited PAs. The tiger-bearing areas outside TATR like Kanhargaon, Saoli, Rajura, Warora-Bhadravati, Gadchiroli, Pandharkawda division and other areas were left out due to Covid-19 situation. However, in the 2021 estimation, all these areas were included.
According to Bilal Habib, head, department of animal ecology & conservation biology, WII, the increase in the number of tigers and leopards is because of effective management of tiger breeding areas in Maharashtra. “One-year-old cubs have not been included in the estimation and all tigers counted are independent of mothers. The data will provide crucial baseline information for better conservation of species,” said Habib.
WII was involved in extensive monitoring in all the PAs, while NGO Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) did camera trapping outside PAs. However, experts say even these figures may not be perfect as in 2021, as per the forest department’s own figures, 33 tigers and over 155 leopards have died due to various reasons and it is possible these animals have been included in the estimation.
“We have been monitoring tiger populations outside PAs in Maharashtra since 2014. Most of these areas support a steady tiger population and even provided a founding population for the neighbouring state of Telangana. However, it is imperative to now focus on habitat degradation, anthropogenic pressure and wild prey populations in these areas as these are key factors dictating conflict outside PAs,” said WCT’s wildlife biologist Aditya Joshi.