India is facing a serious 'problem of plenty'. Rising tiger population in many parts of the country is creating conflict zones. And the tiger- human clashes are going up, alarmingly in many landscapes. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) needs to take initiatives to control the situation. Fifty years after the project tiger as India moves on from dwindling tiger population to surplus numbers of the big cats, the nation needs an active tiger population management plan. As MoEFC&C yet to become proactive, a team of tiger catchers continue to carry out search operations for the past over five months to capture a tigress with four cubs. Thge team members are scanning Tadoba Andhari Tiger Landscape in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, grappling with the issue of over population of 200 tigers. As many as 53 people lost their lives in Chandrapur in 2022 in tiger attacks while 14 tigers have also died from January 2022 to January this year. This
Beware of Leopard (Panthera pardus ), the cat could be next door. A leopard in Lucknow mauled over 20 residents as the spotted cat stalked the busy roads in the last week of December in 2021. The wildcat wandered in the state capital of Uttar Pradesh as a team of over 100 members of forest department, police and others continued to make efforts to capture the cat. The city was on a high alert. People were panicking. The wild cat was ultimately caught on December 28. Over 600 kms away in Bhopal, not one but three leopards continue to move in different pockets of the city. There were no reports of any attack on residents. But pug marks and CCTV footage confirmed the presence of leopards in the city. There were reports of the presence of leopards in Pune in Maharashtra and Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh. But why are leopards attracted to cities in this part of the year. Experts believe it is food-easy prey and garbage dumps of cities- that draws the attention of the animal. Are They Turnin