25 Tigers 'Vanish' Within A Year In Ranthambore National Park

The team is primarily focused on finding 14 tigers that have not been seen since between May 17 and September 30 of this year.

As many as 25 tigers out of 75 in the Ranthambore National Park (RNP) have been “missing” over the past year.  This is the first time such a high number of tigers have officially been missing in a year. Earlier, 13 tigers were reported missing from Ranthambore between January 2019 and January 2022.

According to a PTI report, on Monday, the wildlife department formed a three-member committee to investigate these disappearances. The team has said it will review all the monitoring records based on which it will recommend action if there were any lapses by park officials are found.

The team is primarily focused on finding 14 tigers that have not been seen since between May 17 and September 30 of this year. As per PTI, an official order issued on November 4 stated that reports of missing tigers have surfaced repeatedly from Ranthambore's monitoring assessments.

An official order issued on November 4 stated that reports of missing tigers have surfaced repeatedly from Ranthambore's monitoring assessments.

"Despite several notices sent to the park's field director, no significant improvements have been noted. As of a report dated October 14, 2024, 11 tigers have been unaccounted for over a year, with limited recent evidence of another 14. Given the circumstances, an inquiry committee has been set up to investigate the missing tigers in Ranthambore," the order said, as per PTI.

Chief Wildlife Warden Pavan Kumar Upadhyay while speaking to PTI said that the committee will submit a report within two months. Some monitoring gaps were found following which he started collecting weekly monitoring reports, which showed that these tigers were not recorded on trap cameras. 

“This matter is being taken very seriously," Upadhyay said. 

Efforts to ease pressure on the park include relocating villages from the buffer zone, but progress has been slow, with the last relocation taking place in 2016.

As per PTI, park officials said Ranthambore faces challenges due to tiger overcrowding, which leads them to fight for territories. With 75 tigers — that includes young tigers and cubs — the park's 900 square kilometres is struggling to support them.