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The loss of five tigers in a single shocking incident in Karnataka’s Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary has come as a reality check, bringing to the fore key conservation issues that were put on the back burner amidst euphoria over rising populations of the big cat.

If the official explanation of farmers wreaking vengeance against the cats by poisoning a cattle carcass, which the tigers consumed and died, is true, the crime poses uncomfortable questions for the State Forest Department and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) about unchecked cattle farming in a protected area.

Official surveys of tiger numbers show the MM Hills sanctuary in the southeast tip of Karnataka, contiguous with Tamil Nadu, has a weak record on conservation outcomes. The NTCA data from 2022 show only five tigers were spotted in MM Hills during the last periodic survey.

It is, of course, encouraging that those who allegedly poisoned the carcass have been apprehended, but the NTCA owes the country an explanation of what it is doing to prevent forest lands from being used for grazing, a persistent problem in several protected areas of the Western Ghats.

It is distressing that many people are dying or suffering serious injury after an encounter with tigers in forests. Some recent cases in point are the death of a woman in Biligiri Rangan Temple (BRT) sanctuary close to MM Hills and one man escaping with serious injuries in the same forests.

Project Tiger is celebrated as a major success in the conservation of a charismatic carnivore in a populous country; numbers officially rose from 2,461 unique tigers captured on camera in 2018 to 3,080 in 2022. But conservationists rightly lament a sharp reduction in funding from the Union government for some aspects of the mission.

Lack of funding has paralysed an established programme of village relocation out of core habitat in Nagarahole Reserve, which has spectacularly raised its tiger population. Many tribals recently reoccupied forests in Nagarahole, claiming land title under the Forest Rights Act, indicating high levels of frustration.

There is also a credible scientific argument that India needs to protect new landscapes that tigers have migrated to naturally by voluntarily relocating human settlements. These issues should be addressed by the probe ordered by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change into the MM Hills incident.

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Thus far, the normal official response to confirmed fatal tiger attacks is to give a solatium of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin, while livestock killed in protected areas may not receive compensation. India’s policymakers, keen to showcase the country as a conservation haven where the long-lost cheetah has made a comeback through reintroduction, must strive to maintain inviolate habitats for indigenous flagship species. Helping villagers raise cattle sustainably, without having to use forests for grazing, is the first step.

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