Now that the euphoria surrounding International Tiger Day has abated, the time is ripe to take stock of the relevant challenges in tiger conservation. A report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority has revealed that 667 tigers died between 2021 and 2025. Alarmingly, 341 of these deaths — 51% of the casualties — took place outside tiger reserves. The corresponding figure for such fatalities was 42% between 2012 and 2024. Year-wise data show that the highest number of tiger deaths occurred in 2023, out of which 100 took place outside reserves. Maharashtra — it has six dedicated reserves — accounted for the maximum number of demises outside protected areas, followed by Madhya Pradesh. Currently, there are 58 notified tiger reserves across 18 states. However, the NTCA report revealed that 30% of India’s estimated 3,682 tigers live outside officially-declared reserves.
Some worrying inferences can be drawn on the basis of the data. Habitat loss, evidently, is on the rise even as the tiger population increases. The fragmentation of forests, owing to the expansion of human settlements, deforestation and infrastructure building, has also restricted the free movement of tigers, increasing the risk of inbreeding and the loss of genetic diversity. The loss of prey base presents a double whammy. According to a recent report prepared by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India, there has been a significant decline in the distribution of ungulates, such as deer, bison and nilgai, in East and Central India, forcing tigers to wander into human settlements. The result? Rising cases of poaching, retributive killings, and human-wildlife conflicts. The strengthening of buffer zones is pivotal to ensure big cats do not stray outside reserves. Currently, it is estimated that 30% of such zones are encroached upon. Effective tiger conservation also relies heavily on involving forest communities. But the fraying bond between tigers and people on account of man-animal conflict has the potential of seriously threatening existing tiger populations. The upcoming Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves project must look into the core limitations hindering tiger conservation. One persistent drawback, in spite of the success of India’s tiger conservation efforts, is that it remains wedded to the principle of numbers. But it is the quality of tiger habitats that can help sustain a healthy number of tigers.