Forests around Bhopal lack 'caring capacity', prey for tigers

Forests in and around Madhya Pradesh capital lack caring capacity and necessary prey base, forcing the tigers to move out of their natural habitat and come close to human habitations in cities, according to a letter written by a top forest official to his senior.
The observation has been made in a letter by a senior forest official to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of the state which mentioned movement of a tigress and its four cubs, besides other big cats, outside the forests of Bhopal and neighbouring Sehore area.
These tigers have come from Ratapani sanctuary, which is about 30 kms from here. They have been spotted in outer areas of Bhopal and Sehore which are frequented by people.

"The caring capacity and prey-predator base in the forests of these areas do not look appropriate. Kindly take appropriate steps in managing the tigers," reads the letter, a copy of which was received in response to an RTI query filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey.
Dubey said it is worrying to know that tigers are coming out of these forests due to lack of caring capacity and prey.
"We want the government to constitute a fact finding team to check reasons behind tigers' movement out of their natural habitat. It appears that illegal activities like mining inside these forests is disturbing their natural habitat," he claimed.

Dubey said the state government must notify Ratapani sanctuary as a tiger reserve which will go a long way in conservation of the big cats.
There are six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh--Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay-Dubri and Pench-- which have about 308 big cats. There are about 2,226 tigers in the country, as per 2014 census.