Bhopal, Dec 29: Another tiger death has been reported from Madhya Pradesh, taking the state’s toll in 2025 to 55 the highest number recorded in any year since the launch of Project Tiger in 1973. The latest incident was reported from the Bundelkhand region’s Sagar district, intensifying concerns over wildlife protection in the state.
An adult female tiger, estimated to be between eight and ten years old, was found dead near Hilgan village on the Sagar–Dhana Road on Sunday. The carcass was spotted by villagers, who informed the forest department. The tiger was located in the Dhana Forest Range under the Sagar South Forest Division.
A forest department team led by Dhana Range Forest Officer Pratik Srivastava reached the site and initiated preliminary investigations. Officials said the exact cause of death would be confirmed after a necropsy. However, there were no visible injury marks or signs of poisoning on the body. Senior officials indicated that circumstantial evidence points to possible electrocution from an illegal electric trap, commonly used by villagers to protect crops from wild boars and antelopes.
Forest officials are also examining whether the tigress had been residing in the area or had strayed from nearby reserves such as the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve or the Panna Tiger Reserve.
According to official data, 11 of the 55 tiger deaths recorded in Madhya Pradesh this year have been classified as unnatural. Of these, around eight are linked to electrocution caused by illegal electric fencing or bush hunting.
The rising number of fatalities has triggered sharp reactions from conservationists. Sharing a video of the dead tiger on social media, Bhopal-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey wrote, “When will this cycle of tiger deaths finally end? Fifty-five tigers have been lost in Madhya Pradesh this year, and there is a complete lack of accountability. Who will answer for this mounting crisis?”
Madhya Pradesh, long known as India’s “Tiger State,” has witnessed six tiger deaths in just the past week. On Saturday, another tiger carcass was found in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Umaria district, near a power line in the Chandia forest range, raising fresh suspicions of electrocution. The case is under investigation.
Official figures show a steady rise in tiger deaths over recent years 34 in 2021, 43 in 2022, 45 in 2023, 46 in 2024, and 55 so far in 2025, with the year yet to end.
While the forest department has often attributed many deaths to territorial fights between tigers, conservationists argue that poaching, electrocution, weak surveillance and procedural lapses are major contributing factors. An internal forest department report last year flagged serious shortcomings in the handling of tiger death cases in key reserves, including failures to file preliminary offence reports, post-mortems without videography, incomplete forensic investigations and routine classification of deaths as “animal fights” without thorough examination.
The broader threat of organised wildlife crime was highlighted earlier this month with the arrest of Yangchen Lakhungpa, an alleged international wildlife trafficking kingpin wanted under an Interpol Red Corner Notice, in a joint operation by the MP Tiger Strike Force and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Investigators said his network operated across India, Nepal, Tibet and China.
Minister of State for Forests Dilip Ahirwar said the department treats every tiger death seriously and that expert teams investigate each case. Conservationists, however, maintain that the crisis is systemic and warn that without structural reforms in enforcement, compensation mechanisms, surveillance and accountability, tiger deaths in the state will continue to rise.
