Thaindian News

Jaipur, Dec 17 (IANS) A three-and-a-half-year-old tiger has gone missing from the Ranthambore National Park, a source in the forest department said Wednesday. The source told IANS that the whereabouts of the tiger called T-83 is not known for the past two months.

Though the Rajasthan forest department is not ready to confirm it officially, sources in the department said that the tiger was last seen in the Ranthambore forest in mid October.

The officials have not been able to locate even the pug mark of the tiger so far, they said, and added that the forest department has put together a team to locate the tiger.

During the same period last year another tiger named Yuvraj had gone missing from the Ranthambore forest and was later found to have been killed by poachers.

Ranthambore National Park, situated some 175 km from here in Sawai Madhopur district, is one of the best-known tiger reserves in the country. It covers an area of around 400 sq km and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1957.

It got the status of a national park in 1981. As per a census conducted by the state government in 2007, the tiger population in the park has increased to 32 from the earlier count of 26 in 2005, without taking 14 cubs into account.