Tigers missing in action at Keladevi now

NEW DELHI: After Sariska, there is bad news from the Keladevi sanctuary. Part of the Ranthambore reserve, this sanctuary reported five tigers in the 2004 census. Now the forest authorities can''t find any.
Even after 60 days of intensive tracking, they ha-ve not been able to find a single pugmark, kill or tiger dropping.
Having spotted no tiger in six months, deputy forest officer of Ranthambore''s buffer zone (administering Keladevi sanctuary) sent a letter to the field director of the tiger reserve in February.The information was passed on to the Rajasthan''s chief wildlife warden, who ordered an intensive tracking. On April 5, the empowered committee on forests and wildlife, set up by the Rajasthan government, was informed that there is no tiger in Keladevi now.
Officials are keeping fingers crossed, preparing themselves for the worst. "We are not jumping to any conclusions. We have deputed the chief wildlife conservator and a DFO to visit Keladevi and give us a spot assessment," R P Kapoor, principal chief conservator of forest, Rajasthan, said. A member of the empowered committee will also visit the area.
Although Kapoor says he did not have information on the crisis in Keladevi when his government sounded a red alert in Ranthambore, members of the empowered committee, who recommended this action, say they "got a sense of things going wrong".