August 2009 Chorbera tigress has been reported as having cubs.

August 2009 Mahaman tigress has been reported as having delivered cubs.

September 2009 Mirchani tigress was reported by forest officials as having three new cubs.

No further information known at present.

August 2009 Bhamera tigress had been in conflict with local villager for some time. In the previous months she had killed two villagers and become a frequent taker of cattle. It is though that after one such kill the carcass was poisoned and the tiger died on 20 August after she returned to it and ate. The body was cremated after postmortem. Bhamera had three 8 month old cubs that would not be able to survive on their own, but they were found alive and are being cared for by the Forest Department in a large enclosure in the Maghdi zone.

June 2009 Unfortunately we have some bad news about Chalkradhara's litter. On 21 April 2009 one of the cubs was injured by a tourist jeep, subsequently dying a few days later. It is clear that the cub went under the jeep and that the jeep moved while it was still there, though accounts differ as to whether or not the mother was acting aggressively towards the jeep. Other stories abound (I have even heard one version where the cub was already injured beforehand (?)) and as a result the whole story is unclear. The driver, Satyendra Tiwari, was arrested but has subsequently been released on bail awaiting trial, and was driving in the park again before I returned home early in June. I am surprised that someone as experienced and committed to tiger conservation should have been involved in the death of a tiger, and it is a bitter irony that his was often the loudest voice complaining about others' behaviour.

I'll keep everyone posted about the outcome of the trial, and what action Tour Operators For Tigers (TOFT) take against the driver, who is one of their members.

June 2009 An adult tiger was found dead just outside the park at the beginning of May. The park authorities are claiming that this is a 12 year old male, but all the known males are accounted for. Banbai female has gone missing, so most people are of the opinion that the dead tiger is almost certainly her. Sad news is that this only leaves Chakradhara alive from the offspring of Sita and Charger. Her three cubs look to be fending for themselves, so hopefully they will continue to maturity.

June 2009 The rules of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (formerly known as Project Tiger) strictly prohibit the removal of adult breeding tigers from the core areas of National Parks. In spite of this, Bhitri female was tranquilised and removed from Bandhavgarh to Panna in March, along with a female from Kanha. The stated idea was to mate the two females with the sole remaining resident male to repopulate the park. The move met a lot of resistance from both parks, including a strike by the guides at Kanha.

There were far more suitable candidates for relocation and there is concern as to how effective protection for the tigers will be, bearing in mind that Panna has lost its existing tigers. There had been no confirmed sightings of the old male recently, and I have unconfirmed reports that the signal from Bhitri's radio collar is many km from the area in the park where she was released.

At the end of May the Field Directors of Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Panna National Parks were transferred from their posts as a result of the decline in tiger numbers in the state.

September 2009 (Indian web based news agency) The forest department announced that the plan to remove another male tiger from Bandhavgarh on 25 September to join the two tigresses already transferred had been postponed, after it was found that the male belonged to the same gene pool as one of the two females.

This seems totally crazy. I will try and find out what is really happening about this when I get back to Bandhavgarh in November and post to the website asap.

August 2009 Four big tigers have been seen behind Garphuri Dam. These are thought by some to be cubs from Mahaman’s first litter, though this would be at odds with the report of one of the cubs having been killed be a male tiger in March 2008. Any sighting of tigers is good news. A patrolling party spotted a “new” male tiger on a trail near Chilhari village.

June 2009 Mirchani's two sub adult males are very confident and still moving around as a pair. One in particular takes great delight in parading slowly in front of the assembled jeeps -- the authentic "catwalk" model.

June 2009 Jhurjura's litter is almost fully grown and gave us regular sightings in the water at Rajbhera Dam. We also had good views of one of the cubs hunting and one the last morning of our summer tour we saw Jhurjura and Boka mating just a few yards from the jeep.

June 2009 Bandar (B2) is still in good condition, though he is coming under increasing pressure from Bhamera, his four year old son. Bhamera seems to be able to handle both Bandar and the other dominant male, Boka, so it would appear that the balance of power in the park is about to change.