Rising Stripes Script Tadoba's Roaring Tiger Story

Time of India

28-07-2025

Nagpur: From just over dozen tigers recorded in 2010, to almost a hundred in 2024 – Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) has emerged as a perfect example of how merging conservation and protection methods yield results in increasing tiger numbers.
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With the highest number of tigers in Maharashtra, it's no surprise that TATR attracts around 3.75lakh tourists annually – a feat no other tiger reserve in the state even comes close to.
Prabhu Nath Shukla, field director TATR said the journey of the tiger reserve from being just one of many others, to becoming a haven for big cats is due to persistent efforts in wildlife management and implementation of strategies with a 360-degree view.
"Protection and conservation go hand in hand, you really cannot ignore one at the cost of the other. At TATR the forest department along with other stakeholders has done capacity building in both segments to achieve this holistic growth in tiger numbers," said Shukla.
TATR focussed on creating one of the best grassland habitats, which in turn attracted herbivores in huge numbers, which in turn kept increasing the tiger numbers in the region.
Shukla said, "We also have a really good waterhole network and this ensures equitable presence of animals in the entire region."
With water and prey base taken care of, TATR's next challenge in conservation was external threat to tigers. To keep tabs on poachers, forest officials built up a strong informer network and even set up a cyber cell to track movement of known poachers and build a database of new ones. Protection huts deep inside the forest for staffers, with all amenities, including full stock of ration kits, have been built across the forest area, and this helps for increased on-ground 24/7 monitoring of sensitive areas plus intelligence gathering.
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Shukla said, "Forest officials regularly conduct anti-snare and anti-electrocution drives, thus reducing chances of big cats falling prey to poachers. Apart from this there is M-STRIPES, which is a smart patrolling and ecological monitoring system that uses GPS, remote sensing, and a mobile app to track patrols, record wildlife data, and manage human-wildlife conflicts."
A key factor in Tadoba's success has been the rehabilitation of villages from the core area.
"This has created vast inviolate spaces for wildlife. Additionally, ecotourism has provided steady livelihood support to communities in the buffer, turning them into active partners in conservation," Shukla said.
With exceptional control over fire incidents, TATR has ensured minimal destruction of habitat. Shukla said "The area under TATR is approximately 1.72 lakh hectares and last year fire incidents were reported in 24 hectares of area."
The accepted benchmark for fire incidents in forest is 1% of the entire forest area. TATR reported fires in less than 0.014% which is phenomenal considering its massive geographical jurisdiction.
Tadoba is also among the few reserves to adopt Artificial Intelligence for monitoring tigers and leopards. "Our AI-backed system helps us track movement patterns and identify behavioural anomalies. An AI Wall alerts villagers about predator movement and reduces man-animal conflict. We also run a Patrol Reporting Tool (PRT) system that enhances real-time feedback from field teams," he noted.
With TATR now in process of hiring an "AI Officer", the huge data bank it has will be converted into meaningful policy points and chart out strategies to further strengthen conservation.