182 tigers died in 2023, a 50% spike from 2022, environment ministry tells Parliament

New Delhi: India recorded a 50 percent rise in tiger deaths last year compared to 2022, the Centre informed the Parliament Monday. According to data from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), tiger deaths surged to 182 in 2023 from 121 in 2022. In response to a query in Lok Sabha about tiger fatalities across the country, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State in MoEFCC, shared state-wise data on the total number of tiger deaths over the past three years.

The data shared by Singh showed that over 75 percent of these fatalities occurred in five states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Maharashtra, with 46 tiger deaths, led with a slight margin from Madhya Pradesh, which finished a close second at 43. Uttarakhand was a distant third with 21 deaths, roughly half of Madhya Pradesh’s total.



The number of tiger fatalities in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh remains shocking, despite a significant increase in government aid to these states. Between 2023 and 2024, Maharashtra’s funding rose by 9 percent from Rs 3,956 lakh to Rs 4,303 lakh, while Madhya Pradesh saw a dramatic 223 percent increase, with funding soaring from Rs 809 lakh to Rs 2,614 lakh. These funds support efforts in anti-poaching, tiger conservation, habitat management, eco-development, human resource and infrastructure development, and voluntary village relocation in both states.

Government data also revealed an astonishing rise in tiger fatalities in Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, with deaths increasing by 400 percent and 250 percent, respectively—far surpassing the national average of 50 percent in 2023. Other states with noteworthy rise in mortality include Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, both reporting a 100 percent rise in fatalities, while Assam and Maharashtra saw increases of 67 percent and 64 percent, respectively. Despite the rising trend in tiger fatalities, the data on confirmed causes remains alarmingly low, with the exact cause reported for only about 14 percent of the total cases in 2023.

Of the 25 confirmed cases, poaching is the leading cause with 12 fatalities, followed by unnatural causes, which accounted for nine deaths, and seizures, responsible for just four fatalities. Wildlife conservationists have highlighted that the causes of deaths of wild animals, including those of tigers, are difficult to detect. “Most carcasses are found in advanced stages of decay, making it difficult to determine the exact cause of death,” said Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, a senior scientist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru.

He explained that the numbers represent the minimum fatalities and the actual death toll could be nearly double. As long as tiger densities and numbers are stable or increasing, deaths should not be a concern, he said. India’s tiger population has grown at a rate of nearly 10 percent per annum between 2006 and 2022, according to government data.

The last tiger census in 2022 pegged the population of the striped cat in India at 3,682. However, Jhala warned the authorities to be cautious against poaching, citing difficulties in tracking the remains of wild animals traded illegally. “Commercial poaching can wipe out populations in a short time and management should always be vigilant against it,” he said.

“Poached carcasses are rarely discovered since most body parts of tigers are traded and removed by poachers for sale outside of India.” Also Read: Ganga dolphin sightings up in Bihar, poaching down. Dams & barrages pose a challenge var ytflag = 0;var myListener = function() {document.

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