Tiger Confirmed in Maharashtra's Beed District for the First Time in About a Century
A camera trap in the Brahmgaon forest range of Ashti tehsil, Beed district, Maharashtra, recorded a tiger on 20 August 2026 - the first confirmed presence in the Ashti-Patoda belt since the 1910s and 1920s. The four-year-old male, weighing over 200 kg, left Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal in 2023 and moved through Chandrapur, Dharashiv, Latur and Ahilyanagar before reaching Beed, where it now uses the Balaghat range in Patoda as territory; it later moved towards Barshi in Solapur. Earlier traces included Dharashiv (December 2024) and Beed pugmarks (October 2025). No human attacks have been reported.
Maharashtra's tiger reserves include Tadoba-Andhari, Melghat, Pench, Bor, Nawegaon-Nagzira and Sahyadri | Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted in 2005 under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 | The tiger is India's national animal and is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972