NEW DELHI: India's tiger conservation success story has a flip side. More big cats are dying outside protected reserves than inside them. Latest data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) shows that in 2025, India recorded 166 tiger deaths, the second-highest in recent years and a sharp jump from 126 in 2024 (see table).
In all, around 51% of 725 recorded fatalities in the last five years occurred outside tiger reserves, driven by the fact that about 30% of the country’s tigers now roam freely outside notified protected areas and exposing them to risks like human conflict, road accidents, electrocution and poisoning.
A senior NTCA officer, who asked not to be named, pointed to severe staffing shortages. “We’re stretched thin in the field. Our forensic labs are understaffed too, which delays sample analysis and slows our response. That’s partly why poachers aren’t caught and prosecuted quickly enough.”
The backlog tells the story. While 24 tigers were confirmed killed by poachers in 2019, five cases from that year remain under investigation.
The pending cases have shot up: from 37 in 2020 to 58 in 2021, 51 in 2022, 64 in 2023, 67 in 2024, and 140 in 2025.
The latest State of Tiger report confirms one in five staff positions remain empty across tiger reserves. Some locations are missing 40% or more of required protection personnel. Twenty reserves reported inadequate anti-poaching staff.
The rising number of tiger deaths outside protected areas prompted the Environment Ministry to launch a pilot to manage human-tiger conflicts across 10 states, with an allocation of Rs 88 crore. “This pilot scheme doesn’t address the core issue of staff shortage,” said the officer.
