Tigress found dead in Madhya Pradeshs Sagar; state reports 55 tiger mortalities in 2025
BHOPAL:Yet another tiger death has been reported from the 'Tiger State' Madhya Pradesh this time from the Sagar district of Bundelkhand region. With this latest tiger fatality, the number of mortalities of the striped big cat in Madhya Pradesh so far in 2025 has touched 55 the highest in any year since the launch of the Project Tiger in 1973. The adult female tiger, aged between eight and ten years, was found dead near the Hilgan village on the Sagar-Dhana Road on Sunday. The latest tiger death was reported from the Dhana Forest Range under the Sagar South Forest Division. The matter was immediately reported to the forest department staff by the villagers, who had spotted the tigers carcass in the morning. The forest department team, led by the Dhana Forest Ranger Pratik Srivastava, rushed to the spot and started the on-spot investigations. According to highly placed officials in the state forest department, though the actual cause of death will be known only after the necropsy of the carcass, the absence of signs of injuries on the body or any circumstantial evidence of suspected poisoning suggest that the adult female might have been electrocuted due to some electric trap set up by villagers in the area. The local forest department staff are also ascertaining whether the tigress had been moving in the same area for a long time or travelled there from some other place, including the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve or the Panna Tiger Reserve. Importantly, as per details available with the TNIE , out of the 55 tiger deaths which have taken place in MP so far this year, 11 deaths are unnatural, out of which around eight have been caused due to electric traps set up by villagers to save their crops from wild boars and antelopes or bush hunting of wild animals. The electrocution-related deaths of tigers in MP are a major cause of concern for the state forest department, which is particularly happening due to villagers setting up such traps to save their crops from wild boars and antelopes especially as the pace and process of the revenue departments compensation for crops damaged by wild animals is very slow and complicated. Sharing the video of the dead tiger on social media on Sunday evening, Bhopal-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey wrote, When will this cycle of tiger deaths finally end? 55 tigers have been lost in Madhya Pradesh so far this year, there is a complete lack of accountability. Today, another tiger's carcass was discovered in Dhana, Sagarsuspected to belong to the Panna Tiger Reserve. Who will answer for this mounting crisis?
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