Tigers struggle for existence in erstwhile Adilabad

Once a thriving tiger habitat, the forests of Adilabad have witnessed a drastic decline in tiger populations over the past 25 years. Rampant teak smuggling, poaching, and widespread encroachments have contributed to habitat degradation, forcing tigers to migrate to neighboring states.

Adilabad: Tigers have been struggling to protect their existence in erstwhile Adilabad district, a stronghold of tigers for over two decades.

The erstwhile Adilabad district was once a safe haven for tigers. The dry deciduous forests of the district have been conducive to the inhabitation of the tigers. The forests that fall under the basin of the Godavari are still endowed with prey bases and drinking water sources for the tigers. Many villages of the district were named after words containing “tigers,” reflecting the presence and co-existence of tigers and humans.

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The forests boasted high-quality teak timber, which however proved a bane for the tigers. Smugglers of the teak timber eliminated the tigers to exploit the forests from the 1970s to 2000. They decimated the teak trees, resulting in the disappearance of tigers from this region over a period of time.

Similarly, habitual poachers from Maharashtra and local wildlife hunters killed the remaining tigers between 2000 and 2025. They set iron and electrified snares at streams and irrigation tanks to poach the tigers for their nails and skins. Around 20 tigers were either poached or went missing in the last two and a half decades, according to official data.

Alongside, tribals and non-tribals encroached forest lands in the composite Adilabad district. Over 2 lakh acres of the forest cover of Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) were occupied in the last decade alone. The forests continued to shrink, causing loss of habitat for the tigers. Developmental projects such as roads and railway lines were created through key tiger corridors.

Tigers were forced to leave the territory following threats to their lives in the form of smugglers and poachers and began migrating to the neighbouring Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh in search of territory.

Evidently, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in its Status of Tigers-2022 pointed out that no tigers were detected in the reserve, except for a few individuals in Kaghaznagar. Officials draw criticism for failing to adopt effective conservation measures to create suitable living conditions for the tigers.