The big cat, which is around four years old, has stayed in Gautala wildlife sanctuary since March 2021, when he came in search of new territory. It has marked its area between Kannad and Chalisgaon in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalgaon districts, respectively
The tiger was captured on the camera traps on March 13 and 14 in Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary. Representational pic
Walker II, the lone tiger at Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra, has been spotted on a camera trap, nearly two weeks after going off the radar, an official said on Wednesday.
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According to news agency PTI, the big cat, which is around four years old, has stayed in the protected forest since March 2021, when he came in search of new territory. The tiger has marked its area between Kannad and Chalisgaon in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalgaon districts of Maharashtra, respectively, the official said.
Walker II was spotted on February 27 before it went "missing" for about two weeks, raising the speculation that it might have been killed by poachers, PTI reported.
To everyone's delight, he was captured on the camera traps on March 13 and 14, the official said.
"The tiger is safe and is in the core area of Gautala. He stays in the jungles of Kannad taluka for nearly three weeks and then shifts to Chalisgaon for about a week," the official said, adding that it has enough prey in the sanctuary.
Honorary wildlife warden Dr Kishor Pathak said a tiger has come to the area after nearly 50 years.
"To keep the tiger safe, regular patrolling should be done in the jungle area. There should be speed limits for vehicles passing through the sanctuary," he said.
1,431 tiger deaths reported across India since 2012
Between January 2012 and February 2025, a total of 1,431 tiger deaths were reported across India. More than 40 per cent of these were recorded outside protected areas.
Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of tiger deaths followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. Poaching and natural causes accounted for 227 and 559 deaths respectively while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) data states that 406 deaths since 2012 are still being scrutinised. A total of 106 tiger body parts were recovered in seizures to date.
Referring to the period between January 2012 and September 2024, when 1386 tiger mortality events were recorded, the NTCA’s website states, “As per the stringent conditions set by the NTCA, all tiger deaths are considered ‘poaching’ in the beginning. Supplementary details like post-mortem reports, forensic and lab reports and circumstantial evidence are gathered to close a particular tiger death case as either natural, poaching or unnatural, but not poaching. The figures indicate that 71 per cent of recorded tiger mortality cases have been closed after scrutinising the post-mortem and forensic reports and 29 per cent of cases are pending [under scrutiny].”
The NTCA site states that of the 1386 deaths, half took place inside the tiger reserves and 42 per cent of tiger mortalities were recorded outside tiger reserves while seven per cent were seizures.
Tiger toll
Madhya Pradesh recorded highest tiger deaths from 2012 to date—355 while Maharashtra recorded second highest figure—261, followed by Karnataka 179, Uttrakhand 132, Tamil Nadu 89, Assam 85, Kerala 76, Uttar Pradesh 67, Rajasthan 36, Bihar 22, Chhattisgarh 21, Andhra Pradesh 14, West Bengal 13, Odisha 13, Telangana 11. Goa recorded four deaths while Nagaland and Delhi recorded two each and Jharkhand, Haryana, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh only recorded a single case each.
Going by data available between 2012 and September 2024, the highest deaths were recorded in January, 166; followed by March, 151; and May, 140. The month of October had the lowest tiger deaths, 70.
(With PTI inputs)
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