The tiger population in Odisha has dwindled really low!

Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: The sight of the big cat in the Odisha Tiger Reserve is becoming rare due to the fast decline in the tiger population resulting from unabated poaching. This is raising doubts about the survival prospects of this majestic animal.

Although the latest tiger census report of NTCA has asserted a steady rise in India's tiger population. There is one place where the number of big cats has gone down considerably in the past few years, the Similipal tiger reserve in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district.

Famous for its Black tigers and also the only place in the world that houses the source population of the melanistic tigers, Mayurbhanj district is home to a major population of tigers in Odisha.

According to the Odisha government, last census of tigers conducted by the use of both pugmark and camera trap techniques in the year 2016 showed presence of 28 tigers in Mayurbhanj's Similipal tiger reserve.

The Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO) claimed that Similipal had 101 tigers in 2006 but now the population has gone down to 28 due to a spike in poaching cases.

"The reserve has lost 75 tigers. This is not a good sign because, in the past decade, crores of public money has been spent alone in Similipal for protection of tiger conservation," Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary of WSO told ANI.

"The reserve has lost 75 tigers. This is not a good sign because, in the past decade, crores of public money has been spent alone in Similipal for protection of tiger conservation," Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary of WSO told ANI.

Indiscriminate poaching of tigers is mainly responsible for the decline in tiger population. Over the past few years, tigers have been falling victim to mindless human cruelty. Since the hides and skins and other organs of tiger have great demand in the local and the international markets, a section of greedy people are engaged in killing tigers. Some dishonest forest department officials are abetting the crime in exchange for hefty bribes.