Bhopal: As many as 85 tigers, including 32 cubs, have died in the past four years due to various reasons in wildlife habitats of Madhya Pradesh, the government has informed the state Assembly.
State forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah gave this information in a written reply to a question by Congress legislator from Jabalpur (East) Lakhan Ghanghoriya.
The Congress MLA had sought to know how many tigers died in the state in four years from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
The MLA had also sought information about how many big cats had escaped from various reserves, to which Shah said that the movement of the tigers through various forest corridors is a natural process in the search of food, partners, better habitat and new territory.
"State government spent Rs 28,306.70 lakh on the conservation, security and monitoring of the big cats during 2018-19, while this amount was Rs 22,049.98 lakh in 2019-20. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, Rs 26,427.86 lakh and Rs 12,882.82 lakh have been spent on this work respectively," Minister told the house.