The western section of Rajaji National park has seen a decline in its tiger population over the last three years. According to officials, the number of tigers in this section has come down to as low as one or two from six or seven.

Playing down the possibility of poaching, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shrikant Chandola says that this could be because of tigers having migrated from this section of the forest because of the human colonies close by. He added that the park has more than a dozen tigers, mostly concentrated in the eastern section of the national park.

Talking to media persons on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Rajaji National Park, Chandola also gave an account of the elephant population in the forest. He disclosed that in the last four years, four elephants have died on account of coming in contact with electric fences put by farmers to save their farms from the animals. “Steps are being taken to prevent this man-animal conflict. A major step in this direction is the decentralization of the compensation disbursement process to the farmers,” he said.

On the positive side, there have been no elephant deaths due to collisions with the trains since 2002.

“This has been possible on account of joint efforts of the forest department and the Indian railways. Joint patrolling along the tracks that run through the park has been very helpful in checking accidents. There have been occasions when railway drivers have reduced their speed or even stopped trains on coming to know of elephants in the vicinity of the tracks,” Chandola disclosed.

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