The Tiger Task Force sighted 15 big cats during its field visits to the Kanha and Pench reserves areas, officials said on Monday.

The sighting follows reports of vanishing tigers in the reserves.

Fourteen tigers and cubs were sighted in Madhya Pradesh's Kanha reserve and one big cat was sighted at the state's Pench Tiger Reserve.

The task force visited Pench in Maharashtra, and Kanha and Pench in Madhya Pradesh from June 8 to 11.

During the visit, the task force did an appraisal of field implementation, protection initiatives and involvement of local communities, apart from relocation done in tiger reserves.

The task force was constituted April 19, 2005 by the Environment Ministry under the leadership of Sunita Narain, director, centre for science and environment, to suggest measures to strengthen tiger conservation in the country.

It was intended to ensure an effective human resources plan for tiger conservation or wildlife managers, suggest measures to improve the methodology of tiger counting and forecasting and placing data on tiger conservation in the public domain.

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