Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a devastating milestone in wildlife conservation, recording 55 tiger fatalities in 2025, the highest annual death toll since the inception of Project Tiger more than half a century ago in 1973. The alarming figure has triggered urgent, high-level action from the state's forest administration.
A Grim Discovery in Sagar
The latest casualty that pushed the count to this record number was discovered on Sunday in the Bundelkhand region. The carcass of a male tiger, estimated to be between eight and ten years old, was found near Hilgan village in the Dhana range of Sagar's South Forest Division. Local residents alerted the authorities, prompting forest officials to secure the area and summon veterinarians for an examination.
Divisional Forest Officer Varun Yadav stated that the carcass was found in a forest area where tigers had not been previously documented. "The animal appeared to be a fully grown male, approximately eight years old. All body parts were intact with no visible external injuries, and no bloodstains were observed on the carcass or in the immediate vicinity," Yadav explained. While preliminary checks revealed no external wounds, a post-mortem is underway to ascertain the exact cause of death.
The Silent Killer: Electric Fences
Wildlife sources indicate that investigators are probing whether the tiger died after contacting an electric fence, with its body later dumped at the spot. This method represents one of the most pervasive and insidious threats to dispersing big cats in the region.
The problem stems from farmers, desperate to protect their crops from wild boars, nilgai, and other herbivores, who install crude, live-wire fences around their fields. Often, these are powered by direct current instead of safer, low-voltage solar chargers. These makeshift systems lack safety cut-offs and can deliver a lethal shock to any animal, including protected tigers, that comes into contact with them.
Officials are also investigating the tiger's movement history, speculating it may have dispersed from the nearby Nauradehi Tiger Reserve.
Unprecedented Bureaucratic Action
The mounting death toll, attributed to electrocution, road and rail accidents, and other preventable causes, has finally spurred the state's top forest brass into unprecedented action. V N Ambade, the head of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, has taken serious note of the rising fatalities.
In a stern letter addressed to all senior forest officers across the state—including Chief Conservators of Forests, Field Directors of tiger reserves, and Divisional Forest Officers—Ambade directed them to treat wildlife protection as an utmost priority. He explicitly warned that negligence would not be tolerated. The communication highlighted that despite repeated instructions, the number of tiger and leopard deaths has continued to climb in recent months due to avoidable circumstances.
This record-breaking year for tiger deaths in India's 'Tiger State' underscores the critical and escalating challenges in human-wildlife coexistence, demanding more effective on-ground protection measures beyond the boundaries of protected reserves.
