IWN Report — Friday, 11 September 2026

Anti-poaching patrollers in Bandhavgarh National Park are facing a monsoon threat that has nothing to do with poachers this year: venomous snakes climbing into patrolling huts to escape the rain. UK-based charity Tigers4Ever says the bite of a krait can paralyse a patroller so completely that they cannot even shout for help, and the reserve’s heavier-than-usual 2026 rains have made the danger harder to avoid.

Kraits are known to slip in beside an off-duty patroller sleeping in a forest hut, drawn by the warmth. Tigers4Ever has supplied trained handlers with specialist snake capture and rescue kits so that any snake found in a patrolling camp can be safely removed and released back into the forest rather than killed, and it has told every patroller to check their sleeping quarters before turning in.

Cubs Too

Snakes threaten more than the humans on patrol. Tigers4Ever’s report notes that tiny tiger cubs in Bandhavgarh can be swallowed whole by rock pythons during the monsoon, a risk that sits alongside poachers’ snares and traps as one of the season’s biggest dangers to cub survival. The charity says it has quadrupled patrolling through the wettest months, partly because heavy rain washes away the tracks that would normally help patrollers follow a poacher into the forest.

More Ground

The same rain that hides a poacher’s footprints also draws more ordinary people into tiger habitat. Villagers head into the buffer forests around Bandhavgarh to collect fruit, cut grass for livestock fodder and harvest fresh bamboo for furniture and fencing, and most of them mean the forest no harm. Tigers4Ever says it is the minority who do — setting traps ahead of the rains and returning once the water has covered their tracks — that its patrollers are working hardest to catch.

The charity also points to a knock-on effect: when people take the fruit and forage that deer, monkeys and wild boar would otherwise eat, those animals move into villages to raid crops instead, raising the risk of human-wildlife conflict on top of the poaching threat.

The Numbers

Bandhavgarh is now home to around 226 of Madhya Pradesh’s 785 wild tigers, out of roughly 3,167 across India — some three-quarters of the world’s wild tiger population. Tigers4Ever says its patrols have cut unnatural tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh by more than 98 percent since it began work in 2010, a period in which the reserve’s tiger numbers have grown more than fivefold. Even so, the charity counts 131 tiger deaths reported across India so far this year.

Gearing Up

Since April, Tigers4Ever has completed work on ten wildlife waterholes, including larger replacements at Salkhania and Pachpedi, and handed out 200 waterproof flashlights, 200 mosquito nets, 200 sets of waterproof clothing and 100 full uniforms with sturdy boots. With increased patrols now due to run into the winter, the charity is asking for continued support to keep tripled patrolling in place once the rains finally ease.

One project moving forward alongside the patrols is a new waterhole in the Sarmania forest corridor, expected to supply year-round water for up to a dozen tigers and their prey once it is drilled. The borehole is being funded by a £1,000 donation, including Gift Aid, from the family and friends of the late Gerry Brain, who grew up in India and loved wild tigers.

Sources: Tigers4Ever, via GlobalGiving · Tigers4Ever