MP agrees but says only 4 fell prey to poaching

Jairam Ramesh’s admission in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the Panna reserve has lost its tigers to poaching coincided with the Madhya Pradesh government’s admission in the Assembly that the reserve,which accounted for 34 big cats in 2004,had none now. The state government,however,claimed that only four tigers were poached in the state between 2004 and 2009.

According to it,while a tigress and a cub were poisoned in Panna in May 2006,a tiger each was poached in Kanha in April 2006 and November 2008. The state government said 39 big cats died in its nine reserves in five years till 2009 and attributed the remaining 35 deaths to fights,disease and old-age among other reasons.

State Minister for Forests Rajendra Shukla told the Assembly that the causes of tigers becoming extinct in Panna could only be known after an expert committee constituted by the state government submits its report. The expert committee,which began its probe only a couple of days ago,is not likely to submit its report for at least a couple of months. He did not mention the report by the SIT which has said the Panna reserve has lost most of its tigers due to poaching.