Bhubaneswar: Odisha has lost 55 tigers including 7 Royal Bengal tigers in the last 10 years, informed Forest, Environment & Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia.

Replying to Jharsuguda MLA Tankadhar Tripathy in the Assembly, the Minister told the House that 48 leopards and 7 royal Bengal tigers have died in different forest divisions in Odisha from 2014-15 to 2023-24. 

Of total fatalities, while 23 tigers were killed by poachers, 4 were electrocuted, 2 died in train accidents, 3 in road accidents, 6 died due to other factors including drowining and infighting, 5 succumbed to illness, 5 died due to old-age related ailments, and 7 died due to unknown reason, he clarified.   

A total of 7 Bengal tigers died during the period, of which, 1 in Balangir forest division (2016-17), 1 in Similipal south division (2017-18), 1 in Bargarh forest division (2018-19), 1 in Satkosia wildlife (2018-19), 1 in Keojhar wildlife (2022-23) and 2 in Similipal south division (2023-24).

As per the Minister's statement in the House, the tiger census was not conducted in Odisha in the year 2000. According to 2002 tiger census carried out through pugmark technique method, 173 bengal tigers were sighted in Odisha. 

The nationwide tiger census was conducted using a camera-trapping method for the first time in 2006. The census revealed that Odisha had 45 Bengal tigers.

As per the state-level tiger census conducted in 2024, a total of 27 Bengal tigers were spotted in Odisha, 24 of them in Similipal Tiger Reserve, 1 in Keonjhar Wildlife Division, 1 in Paralakhemundi and 1 in Hirakud Wildlife Division. 

This apart, 8 Bengal tiger cubs were sighted in Similipal during the counting. 

Odisha had brought a pair of royal Bengal tigers (1 male and 1 female) from Madhya Pradesh in the last 10 years. However, no tiger has been transferred to other states from Odisha during the period, the Minister stated.