By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
Each year as the wild tiger population in Bandhavgarh continues to grow, we continually worry about peak poaching season which is the annual monsoon. Why, you might ask, well it seems simple to think that more water means less conflict all around because the crops are bountiful outside the protected area and the flora within is boosted by new growth and sprouting seedlings everywhere. The prey animals have an abundance of food and drink like no other time of year, so they don’t need to enter the villages in search of food and water. However, it is more complicated because human encroachment into the forest increases during the monsoon rains and footprints are quickly washed away making culprits harder to trace. The people are looking for bountiful fruit to harvest and sell, grasses to cut to feed their livestock, and fresh bamboo to harvest for artifacts, furnishings and fences too. Without realising the consequences of their actions, the human intruders steal the food which the wild animals have waited so long for it to arrive and to provide a bounty for their young. Thus, the animals, especially wild elephants enter the villages and devour the crops from the local farms. Human-wildlife conflict is therefore rife! It isn’t just the footprints of those seeking the fruits of the forest which are washed away, it is the footprints of poachers too!
That’s why we’re always grateful for the brave men and women who risk their lives whatever the weather to keep wild tigers safe. Something which would be impossible without your generosity and support. So, thank you for helping us to increase our patrolling during peak poaching season so we can keep wild tigers safe. Your support is critical to stop the devastating surge in poaching and protect every tiger we’ve fought so hard to give a wild future to. Your support is the lifeline for wild tigers in Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh India’s proud “Tiger State”. Bandhavgarh is where our dedicated anti-poaching patrols work and is where tiger numbers have soared to more than five times what they were when we began our vital work in 2010.
Anti-Poaching patrols are the first line of defence against wildlife crime and the beating heart of tiger conservation. Their impact goes far beyond protecting tigers - they safeguard habitats, prevent poaching, and create lasting benefits for local communities. That’s why it’s essential that we maintain our anti-poaching patrols at the highest levels especially during the monsoon peak poaching season. Together, we can ensure these magnificent tigers not only survive but thrive. Your donations ensure that we can continue this vital life-saving work, safeguarding wild tigers now and for the future generations to come. (https://goto.gg/28767).
We must do more
Our anti-poaching patrollers work tirelessly in the most extreme and dangerous environments, performing one of the toughest jobs in the world. Seventy five percent of the global wild tiger population is in India, with 3167 wild tigers, 785 of which are found in Madhya Pradesh, and 226 of these are found in Bandhavgarh, where our anti=poaching patrollers are.
Worryingly the number of snare wires and signs of anchored traps is increasing again especially in the last 12 months. Farmers frequently tie wire snares around the boundary of their crops and villages to prevent crop raiding, but these wire snares are indiscriminate and can kill tigers and leopards too, if they remain undetected. As reported in January, we are concerned that the farmers are now using more electrified fences around their crops, and whilst solar powered fences are designed to give a deterrent jolt, the trend towards mains powered fences gives sufficient charge to kill wild elephants AND all other animals too. At Tigers4Ever, we are against the use of all electrified fencing opting for more traditional and wildlife friendly alternatives. (See our Forest Restoration project https://goto.gg/70006 for details about the use of Cattle Proof Trenches (CPTs) and our Waterhole project https://goto.gg/34315 for details about how we use solar-powered lighting to reduce human-wildlife conflict).
Our patrollers systematically remove loose wires and snares, whilst filling the anchor points with sand or soil to prevent hidden tethered snares along the trails where tigers walk. They must be extra vigilant against snares during foot patrolling as wires can be easily concealed and can snare a patroller’s foot too. Sadly, an increase in tiger numbers has inevitably led to an increase in poaching, in addition to increases in both tiger-tiger and human-tiger conflict, so we cannot afford to reduce our patrolling when it is most needed NOW.
Wild tigers urgently need more habitat and protection, so our project to restore lost forest habitat in Salkhania and create a new wild tiger corridor at Sarmania (https://goto.gg/70006) is essential to help accommodate the increased number of wild tigers as the young tigers disperse. In 2025, we also extended our patrolling range to include areas where some of the sub-adult tigers from Bandhavgarh have migrated.
Protecting wild tigers and their habitat means more cubs survive but with that success comes greater responsibility. As tiger numbers grow and exceed the carrying capacity of their current habitat, urgent action is needed to prevent rising conflict. We’re already facing a critical tipping point in both human-wildlife and tiger-tiger encounters.
Your generous support has ensured that our patrols could reduce unnatural tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh. But we cannot let our guard down as poachers are always watching, waiting for a chance to strike. Your donations have made it possible to extend increased patrols into June 2026. With your continued help, we can keep wild tigers safe through the coming months and beyond the 2026 monsoon season. If you’re able to give, now is the time. Every donation truly makes a difference. (https://goto.gg/28767).
We are proud of our patrollers and their amazing efforts to keep wild tigers safe. During the last 4 and a half years their workload has increased 3-fold, and they have responded with outstanding effort and hard work whilst poaching activity around India has reached a 15-year high. It is a miracle that we continue to keep so many wild tigers safe!
When conflict incidents are coupled with the increased risk of poaching activities, it means that our patrollers need to always be on high alert. We must ensure that we can maintain a minimum of quadrupled patrolling during the monsoon season, especially as poaching activity is on the increase. https://goto.gg/28767.
Did you know?
On 23 April 2026, a project that we had been working on, with our friends at Typical Tigers NFT, to raise funds to give the wild tigers the wild futures they deserve came to fruition with the launch of a first of its kind Colouring Book. Typical Tigers NFT has raised over £27600 ($37260) so far for Tigers4Ever which has helped us to create permanent wildlife waterholes (https://goto.gg/34315), and to provide essential patrolling equipment (https://goto.gg/56533) for the brave men and women who risk their lives to keep wild tigers safe. In 2025, Typical Tigers donated the funds to kickstart our Forest restoration projects (https://goto.gg/70006). The “Typical Tigers Colouring Book” sales will ensure that projects like these will continue to provide safe habitat for wild tigers to thrive through the donation of 50% of the profits to Tigers4Ever. The book is suitable for Children aged 4 to 17 years and adults who like to colour too! It is available to buy now from Amazon on both sides of the Atlantic. A generous supporter has already bought 50 copies and donated them to Children’s hospitals in the UK. We are very grateful for his kind gesture and the continued support of Typical Tigers NFT as they help us to give wild tigers the wild futures they deserve. Thank you in advance to anyone who buys a copy of this wonderful colouring book which is also packed with fun tiger facts too. (https://amzn.eu/d/0be8GPuy)
You Make a Difference
Your support ensures that we can cover an extra 1800 km (1135 miles) of wild tiger territory per month with our tripled patrols outside the monsoon season, and even more when are patrolling is quadrupled. During patrolling, it is essential to have sufficient time to search for snares; traps and signs of poisoners around the forest areas where human encroachment is widespread as poachers are more active during the rainy season. Our patrols around the periphery of villages where crop raiding and livestock killing is rife, reduces the risk of both snaring and electrocution of wild tigers and their prey. Increased patrolling helps us curb human encroachment into the forest and allows us to provide safety advice for those trying to protect their crops and livestock from wandering elephants and tigers respectively.
With over 226 wild tigers and cubs to keep safe, your help is vital. This year, we know that at least 16 more tiny precious tiger cubs have been born and need our help. Your gift, however large or small can make a huge difference as to whether Bandhavgarh’s wild tigers and cubs can survive the unprecedented threats they face:
Without our help, we know that wild tigers will die; and more humans will be mauled or killed due to encroachment or human-tiger conflict. Sadly, with every human life lost comes another threat to the wild tiger’s survival in the form of retaliation; thus, we must protect both if we are to ensure that wild tigers can have a wild future.
Please don’t hesitate if you can help, your donation can be the difference between life and death for a wild tiger, as it helps to increase our patrolling when it is most needed. Every tiger and every tiger cub counts. Thank you for making our fight against poachers, the changing climate and human-animal conflict possible. (https://goto.gg/28767).
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
