Angul: The relocation process of tigress Sundari, who has left people residing in and around Satkosia Reserve Forest in panic for the past few days, has started with the formation of four separate teams Thursday.
Sources said four separate teams have been formed which are closely monitoring the movement of the female big cat ahead of its relocation to the core area of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
While the tigress has currently been spotted inside the buffer zone of the reserve, members of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Satkosia Forest Department, Kanha Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh and Nandankanan Zoological Park have reportedly kept a round the clock vigil on it.
Though the officials are tight lipped about the plan of relocation, sources said the doctors and scientists in the four teams are to take a final call as to how and when the feline is to be relocated.
Locals are demanding that the tigress should be sent back to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.
The tigress, brought to Satkosia as a part of India’s first inter-state tiger relocation exercise August 18, allegedly mauled a 45-year-old woman to death in Hatibari village September 12, triggering protest.
PNN