The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has notified Ranipur Tiger Reserve in Chitrakoot district as its fourth tiger reserve. It is the 53rd Tiger Reserve of the country and fourth in the state.
Union Minister for Environment, Shri Bhupendra Yadav confirmed this information via twitting: “Happy to inform that Ranipur Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh has become the 53rd tiger reserve of India. Spread over 529.36 sq km (core area 230.32 sq km & buffer area 299.05 sq km), the new tiger reserve will strengthen our tiger conservation efforts.”
About Ranipur Tiger Reserve
- The state government notified 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 is the 4th tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh, after Dudhwa, Pilibhit and Amangarh (buffer of Corbett Tiger Reserve).
- RTR is also 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.
