VIJAYAWADA: Three tigers have died in the wild in Andhra Pradesh in the past three years. One tiger death each was reported in 2019, 2020 and 2021 in the State, the Centre said. The neighbouring Telangana reported six tiger deaths during the same period.
The State has a healthy population of tigers due to the presence of Nallamalla forest ranges which is spread over Kurnool, Guntur and Prakasam. According to 2019 tiger census, the State has 48 tigers and stands 12th among the other States with the highest number of tigers.Forest officials said almost all the tigers counted in the State were in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger reserve of the Nallamalla ranges.
Responding to a question raised by YSRC MP from Nellore, Adala Prabhakar Reddy in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Ashwini Kumar Choubey said there had not been any drastic increase in tiger deaths involving poaching and man-animal conflict in the three years when compared to previous years.Forest officials said the three deaths reported were of natural causes. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest casualty of 102 tigers in three years.
2 big cats found dead in 2022
Till April 2022, two tigers were found dead in Nallamalla ranges of Kurnool district. While one is suspected to have been poached, the other was found dead on the railway tracks