177 Tigers Died In India In 2023, Most In Maharashtra

NEW DELHI (ANI) – As many as 177 tigers died in 2023 with Maharashtra registering maximum tiger deaths at 45, Indian officials said on December 29.

As per the data provided by the Environment Ministry, 40 percent of tiger deaths in 2023 are composed of cubs and subadults.

The environment ministry issued data after some media reports mentioned the high number of tiger deaths in 2023.

Maharashtra was followed by Madhya Pradesh at 40, Uttarakhand at 20, Tamil Nadu at 15, and Kerala at 14. “54 percent of these have taken place outside tiger reserve,” the ministry said.

India is now home to more than 70 percent of the world’s wild tigers. The country has a minimum of 3167 tigers.

Wild tigers in India are growing at a healthy rate of 6 percent per year, which balances the loss of tigers due to various natural causes and maintains the tiger population as per the carrying capacity of the habitat, the ministry asserted.

The total number of tiger reserves in the county is 54 with an expanse of 78,000 square km and covers more than 2.30 percent of the geographical area of India.