25 tigers in Sathyamangalam forest

The Sathyamangalam forest in the district has registered an increase in its tiger population with 25 tigers being enumerated by the forest department.
This is higher than the 2011 population of 22 when the enumeration was last done, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Conservator of Forests, Erode, has prepared a Rs three crore development plan under Tiger Reserve Project and sent it to the Union Government, officials said.
The forest department had already said that people staying in the Tiger reserve Project area would not be evicted and their livelihood would not be disturbed and all protection would be given to them under Forest Rights Act.

Further, seven tribal settlements in the core zone have been excluded from the project, sources said.
Sathyamangalam is the fourth Tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu. The three others are at Mudumalai in the Nilgiris district, Anamalai in Coimbatore district and Kalakad-Mundanthurai in Tirunelveli district.