Bhubaneswar: In a big blow to the country’s first interstate tiger translocation project, the Odisha government will send tigress Sundari back to her native place at Bandhavgarh National Park, in Madhya Pradesh within one month.
The state government has taken the decision after the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) passed a directive for Odisha government to immediately shift the tigress to Madhya Pradesh.
For this the state government has written to its M.P. counterpart, requesting it to take back Sundari in line with NTCA directive.
Sources said that in a bid to increase the number of tigers in Odisha, NTCA September 1, 2017 had decided to send six tigers to Odisha under an interstate tiger translocation project in a phase wise manner.
In the first phase a tiger named ‘Mahaveer’ was brought to Odisha Satakoshia Tiger Reserve from Kanha National Park, July 6, 2018.
After that the tigress Sundari was released into Satkosia Tiger Reserve from Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, August 17, 2018.
But after some days, locals alleged that Sundari killed two persons from Baghamunda and Tainsi villages near the tiger reserve. For this the state forest department was forced to relocate the big cat into a special rehabilitation enclosure.
As the state government violated the standard operating procedure (SOP) by keeping the tigress inside the enclosure, NTCA wrote a letter to Odisha’s chief secretary to free the tiger from the enclosure.
On the other hand, tiger Mahaveer was found dead in the tiger reserve. In the preliminary investigation the forest department officer said that the tiger was attacked by a porcupine. But later, investigations revealed that he was poisoned to death in Satkosia.
Conservationist Ajey Dubey slammed Odisha forest department’s failure to save the tiger.
NTCA has ordered Odisha government to re-wild the tigress Sundari with immediate effect within two weeks.
NTCA also made it clear that there will be no inter-state translocation in Odisha, henceforth. The development has threatened to trigger a row between the two states, with M.P. declaring to thwart any move to relocate Sundari if it was found unfit to be released in wild.
Wildlife lovers said that though the state government had spent Rs.10 crore for the growth of tiger population in Odisha, it is the negligent nature of forest officials which led to the ambitious project dying an untimely death.
PNN