By Arun Lakshman Chennai, April 8 : When Project Tiger was launched on April 1, 1973 at the Jim Corbett National Park by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, nine tiger reserves were identified with an area of 9,111 sq km. Now Tamil Nadu alone has five tiger reserves -- Annamalai, Kalakkad-Mundanthurai popularly know as KMTR, Madumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and Srivilliputtur Megamalai Tiger Reserve. There are reports of a sixth tiger reserve at Erode, which is yet to be confirmed by the Tamil Nadu forest department. As per the tiger census of 2018-19, the number of tigers in Tamil Nadu stood at 264, which was almost 10 per cent of the total tiger population of the country. The population of tigers in Tamil Nadu has tripled from 76 in 2006 to 264 in 2018-19, which, as per conservationists, is a giant leap in the population of big cats. In 2006, Tamil Nadu had 5.3 per cent of the country's total population, and by 2018 the percentage of the tiger population in Tamil Nadu touched 9 per cent which is a highly rated performance. Tamil Nadu pursued a tiger conservation policy that was proactive and where local people were included in tiger protection. Along with the forest department's regular beat to prevent poaching, anti-poaching camps were established in Mudumalai in the late 1990s with the involvement of local youths. This model of Tamil Nadu is hailed as the Mudumalai model which is now having a pan-India presence. Mudumalai has the highest tiger density in the country with 15 tigers per 100 sq km area. The national tiger density per 100 sq km is 4.4. However, with the growing population of tigers in the state, poaching has also increased and in the past ten years the state has lost 70 tigers. This makes the state number 6 in the country as per the Tiger Mortality Rate. The notorious Bawaria poaching gang is considered one of the major reasons for the tigers getting poached. The Tamil Nadu forest department arrested six members of the gang in February 2023. As per the National Tiger Conservation Authority, of the total 70 deaths of tigers, 44 occurred inside the core tiger reserve areas. The causes of the deaths include natural deaths, unnatural factors and poaching. A Tamil Nadu forest department official told IANS: "The Bawaria gang have confessed to have killed a young tiger in the Nilgiris district and we are preparing a proposal to strengthen the ground patrolling by appointing more anti-poaching watchers and increase the temporary camp sites to cover remote areas." Wildlife activists said that the forest department officials were slow to act on the inputs the local people provided regarding the presence of poachers. However the forest officials said that there were no micro level and specific inputs about the poachers. Meanwhile there is a proposal to create a sixth tiger reserve in the Erode forest range. According to officials, the Erode forest division is home to around 15 to 20 tigers. Officials also said that fifty percent of the area of Erode forest division has tigers. A forest department official told IANS: "The field work, data collection, and survey according to government of India guidelines are to be done for considering the Erode forest division as the sixth tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu." M. Munisamy, a wildlife biologist, told IANS: "In the 50 years of Project Tiger, a lot has been done to preserve and conserve tigers. In many states, the population of tigers has increased manifold. Tamil Nadu also has a sizeable population of 264 tigers but the presence of certain poaching gangs in the tiger reserves is a matter of concern and the forest department must take maximum initiative to prevent tiger deaths." /IANS