The Sariska story — from zero tigers to fifty
The collapse (2003–2005)
In 2002, the National Tiger Conservation Authority surveyed Sariska and recorded sixteen tigers. By 2004, villagers were reporting that sightings had stopped; officials dismissed the concern as temporary. In 2005 the truth became undeniable — every single tiger in Sariska, eighteen animals, had been systematically poached over roughly two years. Inadequate patrolling, intelligence failures and enforcement lapses had allowed organised poaching networks to empty an entire tiger reserve. It became a national crisis and forced a fundamental reform of Indian tiger conservation.
The reintroduction (2008–2009)
Rajasthan launched what became the world's largest tiger relocation project. On a rain-soaked morning in 2008, ST-1 — a male tiger from Ranthambore — was flown into Sariska aboard an Indian Air Force MI-17 helicopter. Two males were translocated in 2008, followed by a female in 2009, each given an identification number and fitted with a radio collar for continuous monitoring.
The first birth (2012)
ST-2 gave birth to two cubs — the first wild tigers born in Sariska in over a decade. That single event proved the reintroduction was working.
Today — fifty tigers (2025)
In September 2025, tigress ST-2302 was camera-trapped with two cubs near Karni Mata Temple, taking Sariska's population to fifty: 11 adult males, 14 adult females and 25 cubs. Researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India described the recovery not as a miracle but as a meticulous long-term process combining ecological insight, community engagement, political will and institutional reform. Sariska now serves as a global model for tiger recovery.