The Forest Department has started the work on counting tigers in West Bengal’s Sundarbans from Tuesday, along with other tiger reserves and jungles across India. For this purpose, automatic cameras are being installed in various canal-adjacent areas of Sundarbans. If a tiger or any other animal comes in front of the camera, it will click the picture automatically. These pictures will be taken to Dehradun and after analysing each picture, it will be determined how many Royal Bengal Tigers are there are in the Sundarbans.
Work on installing tiger cameras has already started in various areas of the Sundarbans including Matla, Raidighi, Ramganga and Sajnekhali. Work is underway to install 1,484 cameras in various forests of the Sundarbans to take pictures of Royal Bengal Tigers. In total, these cameras will record the movements of the king of the Sundarbans all the time across an area of 4,100 square kilometres.
Tiger counting will continue for more than a month with the help of these automatic cameras. Apart from the movement of tigers, their food supply will also be monitored. That is, the number of herbivores such as deer or wild boar in the forest, which tigers prey and eat, will be reviewed through this camera.
This is the first time that this initiative is being taken.
An app has also been developed for this work by the Sundarbans Forest Department. An official of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve said that an attempt will be made to see whether there is enough food for tigers in the Sundarbans forest. Further decision will be taken based on the information received at that time.
Male Royal Bengal Tiger Shakti dies of Pneumonia in Mumbai’s Byculla zoo
A Royal Bengal male tiger named Shakti, approximately 9.6 years old, died at Mumbai’s Byculla zoo (Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Garden and Zoo) on November 17, 2025, due to respiratory failure caused by pneumonia. His death was officially announced by the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) on November 26, clarifying the cause of death after rumours of a bone obstruction circulated on social media.
The fact came to light on Wednesday following charges of negligence and a “suspicious” death. The 9.6-year-old tiger had shown no symptoms till two days before his death due to pneumonia-triggered respiratory failure as per the preliminary autopsy report.
After Shakti’s death, zoo officials called in doctors from the Mumbai Veterinary College, Parel, for an autopsy. “90 percent of his lungs were not functioning as per the preliminary autopsy report, which points to a chronic cause,” said zoo director Sanjay Tripathi. The exact cause of death was noted as ‘pyogranulomatous pneumonia resulting in respiratory failure’, indicating lung inflammation. The detailed autopsy report is awaited.
Samples of Shakti’s organs have also been sent to the Wildlife Research and Training Centre, Gorewada, Nagpur, for further examination.