Ranthambore Tiger Reserve at threshold carrying capacity, no tiger missing: Govt

The Ranthambore Tiger Reserve is operating at its threshold carrying capacity level and no tiger is missing from the national park, the government said on Thursday.Responding to a query raised in Rajya Sabha on whether 50 per cent of the tigers have disappeared from the tiger reserve in Rajasthan, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav replied in the negative.

The Ranthambore Tiger Reserve is operating at its threshold carrying capacity level and no tiger is missing from the national park, the government said on Thursday.

Responding to a query raised in Rajya Sabha on whether 50 per cent of the tigers have disappeared from the tiger reserve in Rajasthan, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav replied in the negative. ''No sir,'' he said, adding non-detection of a tiger does not mean it has gone missing.

''The Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is operating at its threshold carrying capacity level because of which old/weak/injured and sub-adult tigers as natural process are pushed out of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve and are forced to disperse in adjoining forest areas of Karauli, Bundi, Kota, Bharatpur and KunoPalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

''Thus, non-detection of a tiger does not imply that it has gone missing,'' he said. As per the 2018 all India tiger estimation, there are around 55 tigers in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, the minister said.

He also gave details on the funding assistance being provided under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve for the protection and conservation of tigers.

According to the data, the government released Rs 2.62 crore to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in the financial year 2020-21, Rs 3.68 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 2.76 crore in 2018-19.