Maharashtra: Tiger walks 1,300 km in Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary, sets new record

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, Parveen Kaswan, took to Twitter and unveiled the tale of a tiger who has been walking for 1,300 km around the Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary for five months. This comes as conservation efforts have doubled the tiger population in Maharashtra. However, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh still continue to have larger populations of Tigers in the country.

Parveen Kaswan highlights Tiger’s long journey 

The IFS officer, while describing the Tiger’s journey said, he is walking unintentionally in either the search of territory, prey or mate. He added that the Tiger has passed via several roads, fields and canals without hurting any human being. Have a look at his tweet. 

Read: Javadekar: 'Country's Tiger population up by 750 in 4 yrs to 2,976'

Prakash Javadekar on Tiger population 

While speaking at the Rajya Sabha, the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday, December 2, said the tiger population in the country has increased by 750 in the last four years to 2,976. Earlier, the country's tiger count was reportedly 2,226, he said during the Question Hour in the Upper House. "Now the tiger count is 2,976. We must be proud of our whole ecological system. Tigers have increased by 750 in the last four years," Javadekar said in reply to a supplementary question. He said lions, tigers, elephants, and rhinos are India's assets and if reports of any deaths from viruses' surface, special investigations are conducted to ascertain facts. 

Read: Tiger on the prowl in MIHAN: Forest officials

Country's geographical area of forest cover 

Javadekar while talking about the country’s forest cover said it has increased by 17,374 sq. km between assessments of 2007 and 2017. "However, within the above ten-year period, forest cover increased by 6,788 square km between assessments 2015 and 2017 itself," he said. The top three states which have increased the forest cover include West Bengal, undivided Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. He said the total forest cover of the country, as per the current assessment, is 7.08 lakh sq. km which is 21.54% of the geographical area. The tree cover of the country is estimated to be 93.81 sq. km which is 2.85% of the geographical area, he said. 

Read: Madhya Pradesh: Man tries to enter tiger enclosure at the zoo in suicide bid

Read: Tiger from Panna reserve travels 150 km to Uttar Pradesh: Official