MP has 397 tigers, count goes up by 89

Madhya Pradesh now has 397 tigers, as per the latest state government census, an increase of 89 big cats since the last counting done in 2014, a senior official has said.
Notably, Madhya Pradesh had lost its 'Tiger State' tag to Karnataka a few years back.
"The number of tigers has increased by 89. Now we have 397 tigers in the protected area, according to our latest annual big cat census," a senior government official said.
With the latest tiger count, the state forest officials are hoping that Madhya Pradesh might be able to regain the 'Tiger State' tag when next nationwide census of the felines is done.

Madhya Pradesh is still trailing behind Karnataka by nine tigers, according to the national tiger survey of 2014.
During the 2014 survey, 406 tigers were found in Karnataka, followed by 340 in Uttarakhand and 308 in Madhya Pradesh, as per official figures.
Madhya Pradesh lost its 'Tiger State' tag to Karnataka in 2011, when the nation-wide tiger data was compiled. The census at that time had found, Karnataka had 300 big cats while Madhya Pradesh slipped to the second spot with 257.