Daijiworld Media Network - Jabalpur

Jabalpur, Jun 1: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has sought responses from the Centre and the state government within two weeks over the recent deaths of tigers at Kanha National Park.

A division bench comprising Justices Vivek Jain and Ajay Kumar Nirankari also directed the authorities to detail the preventive and curative measures taken to address the issue.

“The respondents shall come out with specific averments regarding the preventive and curative measures taken by them in the matter of tiger deaths in the Kanha National Park along with their reply which shall be filed within two weeks,” the bench said in its order dated May 29.

The court's intervention follows a series of tiger deaths reported at the Kanha Tiger Reserve in April.

According to forest officials, a tigress and her four cubs died within a span of nine days, with preliminary investigations attributing the deaths to a respiratory infection.

The first cub was found dead in the Sarhi area of the reserve on Apr 21. A decomposed carcass of another cub was discovered on Apr 24, while a third cub was found dead the following day.

All three cubs were around one year old. While starvation was initially suspected, officials later concluded that a lung infection was the likely cause.

Following the deaths of the three cubs, the tigress, identified as T-141, and her last surviving cub were traced in a distressed condition. Both were tranquillised and shifted to a quarantine facility in the Mukki range for treatment.

Forest officials said the tigress, estimated to be 10 to 11 years old, was suffering from severe respiratory distress, including breathing difficulties and an inability to feed. She died during treatment, while the remaining cub, which displayed similar symptoms and was in critical condition, died later the same day.

The deaths raised concerns among conservationists and wildlife authorities, particularly as they occurred within a short period.

Kanha Tiger Reserve Deputy Director Prakash Kumar Verma said the deaths were linked to a lung infection, though the exact cause and mode of transmission are still being investigated.

“We are still trying to ascertain how this infection impacted the tiger family. The cubs may have become extremely weak while fighting off the infection,” he said.

Forest authorities have preserved samples from the tigress for detailed analysis and are collecting water samples from nearby sources as a precautionary measure. The area where the animals were found is also being sanitised.

The tigress had been moving with her four cubs in the Sarhi area before the deaths. Their loss resulted in five tiger deaths being recorded in Kanha during April alone.

Officials said that with the death of a male tiger in early May, the total number of tiger deaths reported in Madhya Pradesh this year rose to 28 at that stage.

Overall, 55 tiger deaths have been recorded across the state in 2025 so far. Forest officials estimate that 11 of these deaths were due to unnatural causes.

Of these, eight are believed to have resulted from electrocution, largely caused by illegal electric traps set up by villagers to protect crops from wild animals.

The forest department maintains that most tiger deaths have been due to natural causes and are linked to the state's growing tiger population.

Senior officials said increased territorial conflicts, disease and age-related mortality are common consequences of higher tiger density in protected habitats.