Baripada: The authorities of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district Saturday said that three-year-old tigress ‘Zeenat’ brought from Maharashtra, is in good health and made her first prey inside the soft enclosure.
Zeenat was brought from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra in a special vehicle by road, a senior forest official said.
“Zeenat tigress made its first kill wild pig inside soft release enclosure. After feeding it took water and is resting. It is in good health,” a senior STR official said Saturday.
A special team of Odisha’s Forest department, comprising a veterinarian, a range officer, and an assistant conservator of forests, had gone to Maharashtra to bring the tigress.
Earlier October 27, another tigress ‘Jamuna’ was brought to Similipal with the approval of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). It was kept in a quarantine before being released into the wild recently.
The Forest department is planning to bring six tigers from central India to supplement the big cat population in STR, which now has 27 tigers and 12 cubs, officials said.
The tigers are being brought under the big cat supplementation project to introduce a new gene pool to the population at Similipal, they said.
PTI