15-20 tigers missing from Telanganas, activists claim | India News – Times of India

HYDERABAD: About 15 to 20 tigers have been missing for years in Telangana’s northern tiger corridors, covering Kagaznagar, Asifabad and Mancherial regions, wildlife activists claim.
Prominent names like Chaitra, Vaishaka and Phalguna have not been seen since 2013, they claim. In January 2024, an adult tiger and a sub-adult tiger were found poisoned in Kagaznagar. Two more from the same family are still missing. Wildlife activists claim that only four to five tigers remain in Kagaznagar, where there were once at least 15.
The forest department’s response to these claims has been mixed. “There is no problem in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve,” said a forest official on condition of anonymity, “but in areas outside the reserves we see tigers disappearing.”
Telangana’s chief forest conservator RM Dobriyal said, “The tigers are here. Some have migrated to Maharashtra and some have returned around Kawal. Recently we recorded a cattle kill in Kagaznagar, so we know there are at least five tigers there.”
The forest department said their absence could have been due to gaps in camera trap coverage.
However, Elusing Meru, the state’s chief wildlife officer, said: “It is a fact that there are no tigers living there at present, but we hope that the undisturbed areas recently created by the relocation of two villages will make it an ideal habitat .”
“We saw around five tigers in Adilabad, Tiryani and Chennur. But the tigers in the Kawal Tiger Reserve have disappeared over the years,” said an official from Aranya Bhavan.