Overview
- On July 10 the Madhya Pradesh High Court heard a PIL over recent tiger deaths at Kanha and directed the state to file a status report on all nine tiger reserves while keeping the case for further hearing on August 17.
- The bench instructed authorities to undertake vaccination drives for Canine Distemper Virus when needed and to maintain heightened surveillance of big cats across the reserves.
- The state told the court it has vaccinated roughly 2,000 dogs near Kanha and said forest officials are monitoring tiger movements to check further spread of the virus.
- The court also ordered the filling of vacant wildlife veterinarian posts and implementation of dog sterilisation measures, citing gaps in disease surveillance, veterinary capacity and biosecurity under NTCA protocols.
- Petitioners say eight tigers died in April–May at Kanha, naming tigresses T-122 (Sunaina), T-141 (Amahi) and T-220 (Mahavir), and activists point to elevated mortalities following a year that saw 55 big cat deaths in the state, which hosts 785 tigers per the 2022 count.