The Uttar Pradesh (UP) cabinet on September 27, 2022 approved the notification of the state’s fourth tiger reserve in the Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS) in Chitrakoot district.
About Ranipur Tiger Reserve
- The state cabinet approved the notification of Ranipur Tiger Reserve (RTR) under Section 38(v) of the Wild life (Protection) Act of 1972.
- The RTR will span across 529.89 square kilometres (sq km), with a 299.58 sq km buffer zone and 230 sq km core area, which was already notified as the RWS in 1977.
- The RTR has tropical dry deciduous forests and is home to fauna such as tigers, leopards, sloth bears, spotted deer, sambhar, chinkara and a number of birds and reptiles, the statement added.
- The RTR will be the 4th tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh, after Dudhwa, Pilibhit and Amangarh (buffer of Corbett Tiger Reserve).
- RTR will also be the first in the state’s portion of the Bundelkhand region, which it shares with neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
- Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary has no tigers of its own. But pugmarks of the animals are frequently seen there as tigers from nearby Panna frequent it.
- The two protected areas (Ranipur and Panna) are just 150 km from each other.
- Ranipur is an important corridor for the movement of tigers, according to the Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
- The 12 tiger photo-captures in 2018 showed that there were three tigers — one male and two females — in Ranipur.
