India: about 450 tigers died in past 12 years

Nearly 450 tigers have died in and around a number of natural habitats in the last 12 years in India mainly due to poaching, reflecting the threats posed to the national animal, according to Press Trust of India's report on Thursday. According to an RTI reply from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, 447 wild cats were found dead between 1999 and March 2011, of which 197 were poached. Besides, 250 wild cats died of natural causes including old age, infighting, starvation, road and rail accidents, electrocution and weakness. The Ministry also noted that poaching was the major cause behind disappearance of tigers from its reserves. "The cases of local extinction of tigers were reported in Sariska, Rajasthan (2005) and Panna, Madhya Pradesh (2008). As reported, poachings of tigers was the major cause of their extinction," National Tiger Conservation Authority under the MoEF said in the reply to an RTI query filed by Ashwini Shrivastava. Some 72 tigers were poached in 2001 and 2002 followed by 48 in 1999 and in 2010, it said. Two tigers were found killed between January and March 17 this year, the reply said. Whereas 20 wild cats were killed in 2003, 17 in 2009, 10 in 2007, nine each were killed in 2000 and 2008, and five fell prey to hunters in 2006, it said.