No Resident Tigers Found in Kawal Tiger Reserve, Exposing Key Challenges

Hyderabad: Despite rising tiger numbers in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR), the absence of resident tigers in Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) has revealed several issues that the Forest Department needs to address.

During the recent annual Phase IV monitoring in ATR, officials recorded 33 individual tigers, the highest in the state, with many being breeding tigers, promising a further increase in numbers over the coming years. From December 2023 to May 2024, over 170 trackers participated in the monitoring effort.

In contrast, the Kawal Tiger Reserve is behind schedule and is expected to complete its monitoring by November. A senior official noted that no resident tigers have been documented so far, despite images of leopards, antelopes, and other wild animals being recorded.

Kawal Reserve spans around 2,000 square kilometers, and though large areas remain to be covered, 80 camera traps have been deployed so far, with 20 more being arranged. The lack of resident tigers may be due to the animals migrating from Maharashtra through Asifabad but not settling in the reserve. The fragmented forest patches in the Sirpur-Kaghaznagar belt, incidents of tiger deaths in Kaghaznagar, and a lower prey base compared to ATR are also contributing factors.

The Forest Department has relocated two villages from Kawal’s core area, but developing grasslands remains a challenge due to local cattle grazing in the reserve, which impacts the prey base.

In 2022, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) recommended the creation of a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) for both ATR and KTR, with 112 staff per unit, but no action has been taken yet. The NTCA also suggested increasing base camps and exploring ecotourism and corporate funding under CSR to boost Tiger Conservation Foundation (TCF) funds.