Ahmedabad: After more than three decades, Gujarat has regained the status of a ‘tiger-present state’, with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) confirming the presence of a tiger in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi said on Friday.
With this, Gujarat has now become the abode of three big cats – lion, leopard and tiger, another minister said. As per the forest department records, tigers went extinct in Gujarat 36 years ago in 1989.
The development comes nearly a month after the Gujarat Forest Department announced that a wandering tiger has made Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary in Dahod district its new home and it has now settled there.
“After 30-plus years, Gujarat roars back onto India’s tiger map. With confirmed camera-trap evidence from Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary (Dahod), the NTCA has officially reinstated Gujarat as a tiger-present state for the 2026 census,” Sanghavi said in his post on platform ‘X’. “A proud moment for conservation, vigilant forest teams, and Gujarat’s thriving ecosystems. Nature finds its way back, when protected right,” he added. Gujarat Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia said an NTCA team had recently visited the state to conduct a study and confirmed the presence of a tiger in the sanctuary. “There was a time when tigers used to roam in Gujarat’s forests. But they eventually went extinct nearly 3 decades ago. Nearly 8 months ago, our staff spotted a tiger in the Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary and it was later established that the big cat had settled in that forest,” he said. “A team of NTCA recently visited the state and prepared a preliminary report, which stated that Gujarat has a tiger population of one. In that report, NTCA has also suggested several steps to strengthen the ecosystem which would help in tiger conservation in the state,” Modhwadia added.
According to the minister, his department has already initiated efforts to create a favourable ecosystem for the tigers. The settling of the tiger and subsequent confirmation by the NTCA prompted Modhwadia to announce that Gujarat has become the abode of three big cats – lion, leopard and tiger. He said the tiger was first captured on CCTV cameras placed inside the forests of Ratanmahal in February this year and it was caught on cameras at regular intervals, which established that the feline had settled in that forest.
In November, Modhwadia said the forest department has relocated some herbivores in the forest to make sure that the tiger gets enough prey base for its survival. In February 2019, the forest department confirmed the presence of a tiger in Lunawada tehsil of Mahisagar district. However, the hopes of revival died out when the big cat’s carcass was found in the same forest area two weeks later. Gujarat is known as the world’s last abode of Asiatic lions.
