Arrests over India tiger killings

By Narayan Bareth
BBC News, Jaipur

Only 26 tigers were reported in the park's last census in May

Four alleged poachers in the western Indian state of Rajasthan have confessed to killing tigers in the Ranthambore National Park, police say.

The hunters, who were arrested last week, have admitted to killing nine tigers and one leopard, police said.

The incident is alleged to have taken place more than two years ago.

Tiger numbers at Ranthambore dropped to 26 from 47 last year, a census showed. Urgent action is needed to stop Indian tigers becoming extinct, activists say.

Although poaching is illegal in India, hunting remains popular.

Endangered

Police in the town of Kota near Ranthambore, about 200km (125 miles) south of the city of Jaipur, told the BBC the arrests resulted from information obtained during another investigation.

"We arrested two poachers for hunting wild turtles and it led to the arrest of two more hunters, from where the details about the tiger killings unfolded," police superintendent Alok Vashisth said.

Mr Vashisth said one of those arrested was a village chief from the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh.

Investigations were continuing, he added.

Meanwhile, the state government has transferred two senior officials from the national park for their alleged failure to protect the endangered tigers.

Rajasthan's state government is under pressure from the prime minister to take steps to protect tigers following reports of large-scale poaching.

Earlier this year, it was reported that tigers had been wiped out at another park in Rajasthan, the Sariska sanctuary.

Environmentalists said over a dozen tigers counted there in May 2004 had disappeared.

The state government is mulling over plans to reintroduce tigers in Sariska.