29 tigers go missing from Ranthambore National Park in 7 years

Jaipur: As many as 29 tigers have gone missing from Ranthambore National Park in the past 7 years. While there might be many causes for tigers going missing, the wildlife department of the state has not bothered to investigate the cause of their disappearance. Some tigers have also gone missing from other tiger reserves including Sariska and Mukundara Hills.

Tiger tourism is a major source of revenue for the state government. Wildlife experts said that the tigers play a vital role in the preservation of forests and growth in tourism. Despite this, there has been no in-depth probe into the disappearance of tigers from Ranthambore and other tiger reserves. Five tigers have gone missing from Sariska and Mukundara Hills in the past 7 years.

The following tigers disappeared from Ranthambore in the past 7 years:

• 2014: T-53, T-70, T-76, T-22 and T-55
• 2015: T-26, T-78, T-90, T-43 and T-88
• 2016: T-6 and T-82
• 2017: T-77, T-89, T-81,
• 2018: T-9
• 2019: T-20, T-23
• 2020: T-42, T-47, T-64, T-95, T-97, T-73, and T-92
• 2021: T-62, T-100, T-126, T-72

There is no trace of ST-5 and ST-13 that disappeared from the Sariska tiger reserve. From Mukundara Hills, two cubs, known as MT-1 and MT-2 went missing.

There are 109 tigers in Rajasthan. Of them, 83 are in Ranthambore alone. Sariska and Mukundara Hills have 25 tigers and 1 tiger respectively.