Sariska National Park

Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an area of 881 km2 (340 sq mi) comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills. This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar state and was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. It was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India's Project Tiger in 1978. The wildlife sanctuary was declared a national park in 1990, with a total area of about 273.8 km2 (105.7 sq mi). It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers. The park is situated 106 km (66 mi) away from Hindaun, 107 km (66 mi) from Jaipur and 200 km (120 mi) from Delhi. It is a part of the Aravalli Range and the Kathiawar-Gir dry deciduous forests' ecoregion. It is rich in mineral resources, such as copper. In spite of the Supreme Court's 1991 ban on mining in the area, marble mining continues to threaten the environment. Apart from the Bengal tiger, the reserve includes many wildlife species including Indian leopard, jungle cat, caracal, striped hyena, golden jackal, chital, sambar deer, nilgai, wild boar, small Indian civet, Javan mongoose, ruddy mongoose, honey badger, Rhesus macaque and Northern plains gray langur and Indian hare. Sariska is also ethereal for bird watchers with some of the rarest feathered species like grey partridge, white-throated kingfisher, Indian peafowl, bush quail, sandgrouse, treepie, golden-backed woodpecker, crested serpent eagle and the Indian eagle-owl. In 2003, 16 tigers lived in the reserve. In 2004, it was reported that no tigers were sighted in the reserve, and that no indirect evidence of tiger presence was found such as pug marks, scratch marks on trees, scats. The Rajasthan Forest Department explained that "the tigers had temporarily migrated outside the reserve and would be back after monsoon season". Project Tiger, now National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), backed this assumption. In January 2005, it was reported that there were no tigers left in Sariska. The Rajasthan Forest Department and the Project Tiger Director declared an "emergency tiger census" in Sariska. The Central Bureau of Investigation, India's intelligence agency, conducted a probe. After a two-month investigation, the agency finally declared that no tigers were left in the reserve. Poaching was blamed for the disappearance of tigers. In July 2008, two tigers from Ranthambhore National Park were relocated to Sariska Tiger Reserve. Another female tiger was relocated in February 2009. In 2012, two tiger cubs and their mother were spotted in the reserve bringing the total number of tigers to seven with five adults. In July 2014, two more cubs were spotted, so that there were 11 tigers in total. As of October 2018, there are 18 tigers including five cubs.