Bhopal, December 22: A total of 85 tigers have died in the last four years due to various reasons in different wildlife habitats of Madhya Pradesh, known as tiger state of India, the government told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

MP Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah gave this information in the House in a written reply to a question asked by Congress legislator from Jabalpur (East) Lakhan Ghanghoriya. Also Read | Omicron Spread: Canada Returnee Tests Positive for New COVID-19 Variant in Faridabad, Says Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij.

The Congress MLA had sought to know how many tigers died in the state in four years from 2018-19 to 2021-22. In the reply, the minister said that 85 tigers, including 32 cubs, died in different wildlife habitats of the state during the given period. Also Read | Haryana Shocker: Man Kills 7-Year-Old Girl for Resisting Rape Bid in Panipat, Arrested.

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 search for food, partners, better habitat and new territory.

The minister also informed the Assembly that the 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, the reply said.

According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) website, as many as 202 tigers died between 2012-2020 in Madhya Pradesh. The data available on the NTCA website said that 38 tigers died in the state between January and December this year so far.

Madhya Pradesh had regained the tag of tiger state in the 2018 census for being home to 526 big cats, two more than Karnataka. Earlier, MP had lost this tag to Karnataka in the all-India tiger estimation exercise for 2010, primarily due to alleged poaching in the Panna Tiger Reserve. At that time, MP had 257 tigers compared to 300 in Karnataka.

In the 2014 tiger census, MP slipped to number three position in the country with 308 striped animals after Uttarakhand (340) and Karnataka (408). The state is home to several tiger reserves like Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Sanjay Dhubri and Panna along with other habitats.

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