Several of India’s best-known tiger reserves reopen their core zones on 1 October after the monsoon. Expect tall grass, full waterholes and a greener forest, and don’t count on a wave of new cubs just because the rains are over.
Assam
The last four of five young elephants sent from Assam to temples in Tamil Nadu this month reached their new homes late last week, completing a transfer the Gauhati High Court declined to stop but has asked Assam to account for, in a detailed affidavit on the animals’ welfare, before it hears the case again on 15 October.
A tiger cub rescued near Kaziranga broke out of its forest department holding crate and disappeared on 19 September, leaving pugmarks four days later as the first solid evidence that it is surviving alone in the wild.
India’s Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change told delegates from more than 100 countries in Jaipur that India’s Ramsar-listed wetlands have grown from 24 to 101 in a decade.
A wild bull elephant found with a suspected spear wound and a clouded left eye near a tea estate in Assam’s Sonitpur district a month ago is still under treatment, with vets tracking whether his eyesight will come back.
India announced the launch of Project Rhino on Tuesday, a new scheme of central funding and technical support for the states that shelter India’s greater one-horned rhinos, arriving as Assam — home to roughly four-fifths of the world’s population — closed out 2025 with zero confirmed poaching deaths.
An elephant named Bharat spent two days refusing to leave the spot in Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh, where his companion died of electrocution, forcing the state’s Forest Department to bring in four tuskers from two tiger reserves before he could be safely captured.
Eight South Asian governments adopted a joint declaration in Kathmandu committing to share intelligence and trace the money behind wildlife trafficking networks, days after Indian customs officers wrapped up a ten-day sweep across five states.
A court in Assam has handed down the 11th wildlife crime conviction connected to Manas Tiger Reserve, according to the Wildlife Trust of India — capping a legal effort that traces back to 2011.
Gujarat marked National Forest Martyrs’ Day on Friday by handing ₹50 lakh to the family of Vikas Desai, the Vyara range forest officer killed in July while chasing down a truck loaded with stolen timber.