Himachal Pradesh with rich biodiversity has a famous Renuka wildlife sanctuary in the Sirmaur district. In 2014, Himachal Pradesh`s wildlife officials searched for a tiger that was spotted on May 16th, 2014 night in the Renuka wildlife sanctuary. A team was set up to search for the tiger in the 402-hectare sanctuary of the Renuka lion Safari-cum-Mini Zoo near Nahan town. Wildlife experts say if claims regarding the presence of a tiger in Renuka Sanctuary are confirmed, the State should pursue the Environment Ministry to extend the area of the tiger project from Rajaji National Park to Renuka and neighbouring Simbhalwara Sanctuaries. The area is not a habitat for tigers, but the authorities were assuming that the tiger could migrate from adjoining Uttarakhand`s Rajaji National Park, the only park in the region that supports tigers in the wild. The lion safari has been lying deserted after the last Asiatic lion died in 2015.

It is pertinent to mention that Rajaji National Park and tiger reserve comprises of the Shivaliks, near the foothills of the Himalayas and spread over an area of 820 km. with three districts of Uttarakhand-Haridwar, Dehradun, and Pauri Garhwal. Chilla, Motichur, and Rajaji namely three wildlife sanctuaries were merged into one in the year 1983. Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve will be the second tiger reserve in the state after the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the 48th Tiger Reserve of India. The Renuka lion safari, which is part of the wildlife sanctuary, is home to two lions and several leopards. Leopards are commonly seen in Himachal Pradesh. The big cats, i.e., leopards have created mayhem for villagers as they pick and take anyone in the night from the nearby villages.

For decades, Renuka wildlife sanctuary remained a wonderful place to watch Asiatic lions. But owing to inbreeding with some other infections, the lions started dying there. About a year back, the wildlife department started making serious efforts to bring a pair of tigers from Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat, and Bannerghatta National Park in Karnataka. Later, the Delhi Zoo management also agreed in 2017 to provide a pair of young tigers to Renuka wildlife sanctuary.

In fact, with some movements of tigers have discovered in these areas, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is planning to declare the areas close to Corbett National Park in the states of Haryana, Uttrakhand, and Himachal Pradesh as a tiger reserve. The MoEF has also initiated the process in 2017-18 to take the consent of the states.

Haryana has nearly 100 leopards in Shivalik and Aravalli, including 24 in Kalesar National Park alone, and 40 to 45 leopards in Gurugram-Faridabad Aravali of which 35 in Gurugram alone. Commonly seen leopards straying into Punjab from Himachal and into Haryana from Rajasthan have made the governments of both states ponder and there is a strong possibility that in coming times these leopards might migrate by the state governments in Punjab’s Abohar or any of the wildlife sanctuaries located in and around Punjab.