As sunlight filters through the bamboo, mahua and teak trees of the thick Jambughoda forest range in Panchmahal district of Central Gujarat on a warm winter morning, the jungle is still, broken only by the occasional bird call.
Driving along the mud track skirting the glistening Kada dam reservoir, a forest official stops, steps out of the vehicle and bends down: he has spotted leopard pugmarks near a herbivore breeding centre — a warning sign.
Gujarat’s eyes have been focused on the herbivore centre at Jambughoda since February last year, when the Ratanmahal corridor it is a part of saw a surprise new guest — a Royal Bengal Tiger. The presence of the four-year-old means that, after a gap of 33 years, Gujarat can claim status of a tiger-bearing state from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, and reclaim its status as the only state in India with three big cats — tigers, lions and leopards.
As the state strives to keep the tiger in Gujarat, the breeding centre — seeking to boost the area’s prey base by breeding deer and sambar, as well as devising a plan to bring in a mate for the new guest — is crucial.
A view of the spotted deer enclosure at the herbivore breeding centre in the Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)
The tiger is believed to have walked some 60 km from the Katthiwada Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh’s border district of Alirajpur into the Kanjeta range in Gujarat’s Dahod district, before reaching Kevdi in Chhota Udepur. “The dense and hilly 90-km corridor from Kanjeta to Kevdi and further to Jambughoda is one of the most intact and thriving forest patches of the state and well-suited for the tiger conservation programme in Gujarat… There is little human population and a prey base; we have been maintaining water sources also. There are several caves in the Kanjeta forest division which are also suitable for attracting the tiger,” Jaipal Singh, Gujarat’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Wildlife, tells The Indian Express.
According to officials, it was a nervous leopard that gave them the first clue of the presence of a new big cat. The leopard, which was a rescue animal, showed unusual reluctance to leave its forest cage and, when it did, darted for cover before scooting away.
Ten days later, officials say, the reason for the leopard’s nervousness was clear, with camera traps capturing images of the four-year-old tiger.
In December, Gujarat’s Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia announced: “In 1989, when the Tiger Census was conducted, officials spotted pugmarks of a tiger but no tiger was seen. In the 1992 Tiger Census, Gujarat was excluded and lost its status as a tiger state. With the sighting of a tiger in 2019 in Mahisagar district, a ray of hope was raised, but unfortunately it survived only for 15 days. It’s a matter of joy for us that the tiger has once again made Gujarat its home.”
A year later, the tiger is part of the Forest Department’s daily chatter, dominating news updates and social media messages alike. Each day, forest officials across the Central Gujarat ranges liaise closely, tracking the animal’s movements.
Officials say that while the animal has largely remained confined to the Kanjeta range, it has begun exploring newer territories and is reported to be moving close now to Makhaniya Dungar, a hill in Chhota Udepur district with natural caves known for their leopard population.
A view of the Kanjeta-Kevdi hilly forest corridor from the Sukhi dam reservoir in Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur district. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)
Among the locals in Chhota Udepur district, more accustomed to the local wagh (leopard), there is buzzing excitement but also fear. It is for this reason that the officials are putting stress on increasing the prey base, to ensure the tiger doesn’t stray into populated areas. Tigers typically require about 5–6 kg of meat per meal, but often consume more from a single kill, allowing them to go several days without hunting again.
Multiple gates bolted firmly shut, a 15-feet-tall fence, slippery galvanised iron sheets and electrified barbed wire enclose two patches in a forest near the Kada dam. This is the ‘Herbivore Breeding Centre’, set up in 2024, and meant to breed cervids for the tiger.
While one 555-sq metre enclosure holds about 50 chitals, including 16 males, 25 females and nine fawns, the other, a 250-sq metre one, holds 33 sambars, 15 males, 12 females and six fawns.
The chief purpose of its high walls and electrified fencing is to keep the leopards out. Among the most agile climbers among the big cats, leopards can leap over 20 feet horizontally and jump up to 9.8 feet high, which means officials have also pruned all the trees around the enclosure. A separate breeding centre has been set up for the red jungle fowl, while the forest around already has a healthy population of nilgai, wild boars and other herbivores.
A view of the herbivore breeding centre in the Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)
These days, the centre has been seeing more hectic activity than usual, as officials prepare to release 15 captive sambar deer into the wild while also ensuring that breeding continues uninterrupted.
Officials hope the bred animals will eventually multiply in the wild. “We released 22 sambars in the Ratanmahal area in August last year. Around the same time, the Kanjeta division released six spotted deer they had bred. They seem to have adapted to the forest,” says Jambughoda Range Forest Officer S V Raulji.
The next, and more difficult, task will be providing the tiger a mate, which officials believe was one reason the big cat travelled down the corridor to Gujarat.
“A request has been made to the NTCA to find a mate… We will go as per its advice and suggestions,” says PCCF, Wildlife, Singh, adding that they expect the NTCA to get back after the ongoing tiger census.
Senior forest officials say the hope is to have three-four more tigers — “including more than one female”.
A view of the sambar enclosure at the herbivore breeding centre in the Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)
Officials also see the tiger’s arrival — and stay — in Ratanmahal as an endorsement of the department’s efforts to develop the area as a wildlife sanctuary. “These include planting fruit trees and creating water holes and caves across the corridor,” says A P Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of the Forest Force (PCCF & HoFF), Gujarat.
One concern are road accidents, with the tiger reportedly seen recently crossing a stretch of the highway in the Kevdi forest range. Jaipal Singh says he has visited the area to gauge the threat. “We will try to keep the tiger off the highway.”
The biggest hurdle, though, may be over. Officials talk about other predators in the Ratanmahal corridor “coming around” to the tiger’s presence. “We have pictures from trap cameras showing sloth bears and tigers sharing the same water point. Leopards also use it. They are adjusting,” Jaipal Singh says.
