MP govt to partner with Vantara for gene mapping of tigers: Officials
The official said the MP forest department has received in principle approval from the Central Zoo Authority for the rescue centres
The Madhya Pradesh government will soon sign an agreement with Vantara Wildlife Rescue Centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar for gene mapping of tigers in the state to track their death, especially in human tiger conflicts, officials said.
According to Ashok Varnwal, additional chief secretary (forest), Vantara will provide its “scientific expertise” on gene mapping of wild animals.
“We will also have tiger experts from across the globe and scientists in preparing a database of gene mapping of tigers of MP for conservation, management and research purposes,” he added.
The officials said that on direction of chief minister Mohan Yadav, a team of forest officers led by Varnwal visited Vantara a few days ago to explore possible collaboration for opening a wildlife rescue centres in Ujjain and Jabalpur.
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He said for the rescue centre, the MP forest department has received in principle approval from the Central Zoo Authority.
“The work on ground will start after receiving a permission letter from Central Zoo Authority and the Supreme Court,” he added.
Madhya Pradesh has a population of 785 from the previous 526 in 2019, according to 2024 tiger estimation data.
With the increase in tiger numbers, the human-tiger conflict has risen by 40% in MP in the past five years.
“No state has any technology to identify the tiger after any human conflict,” a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer said.
Most states, he said, deploy camera traps in the conflict area to identify the tiger in case the animal comes back to check his prey.
“There are chances of error in capturing the wrong tiger,” he said, justifying the decision to conduct gene mapping.
He added that the gene mapping will happen in finding the tiger responsible for the attack by matching saliva samples found on the human with the genetic pool of the database.
Another IFS official said that gene mapping will also help in tracking tigers sent to other states to improve gene pool.
The MP government is likely to send tigers to Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for improving local gene pool and reducing inbreeding.
“Gene mapping helps in tracking the lineage and relationships among different tiger populations. It helps the scientists in assessing the genetic diversity among tiger populations, which is crucial for conservation,” the second officer said.
A Mumbai based big cat expert, not willing to be named, said, “Gene mapping will be a milestone if achieved. But how will it be possible to have gene mapping of all the tigers? How will they capture all tigers as every year 50-60 tigers die and in the same proportion new ones are born. Updating the data would be very tough.”
MP-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said, “How a rescue centre cum zoo will help mapping tigers of wild. This project would be a costly affair. We have WII and its qualified scientists too so why not we are taking their help.”
Officials at the Vantara Wildlife Rescue Centre are yet to comment on the development adding that they will issue a statement once a formal announcement on the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) is made.
