No fewer than 300 people in India have been killed in tiger attacks in the past three years, Persecondnews.com gathered.
India’s Junior environment minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Indian Parliament on Monday that 108 died between 2019 and last year.
Nearly 60 Tiger deaths of the 303 between 2018 and 2020 were caused by poaching, the India authority said.
Tigers are poached for their fur, teeth and bones which are smuggled to China for traditional medicines.
Tigers are a protected species in India, which has nearly two-thirds of the global population.
India’s last official count in 2018 found 2,967 tigers, up from 1,411 in 2006 when the government began aggressive conservation efforts.
“The human-tiger interface has always been there and needs to be addressed in an ongoing manner because there are human-dominated landscapes around the tiger areas,” Dr Rajesh Gopal, secretary general of the Global Tiger Forum, told The National.
“For encounters, there are surveillance systems, and capacity building of frontline workers but if the community is not geared up or not supported or something is lacking, it becomes a vicious circle.”
Mr Choubey said Maharashtra recorded the most deaths, with 56.
The western state has nearly 400 tigers and five tiger reserves.
In Uttar Pradesh, 17 people were killed in tiger attacks: eight in 2019, four in 2020 and five last year, the minister said.
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