Bantala/Angul: Anxious forest officials Friday heaved a sigh of relief with the Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) brought from MP’s Kanha National Park hunting a boar weighing 60 kg late Thursday night and consuming half of it.
The big cat, brought to increase the tiger population in Satkosia sanctuary, was found far from exhausted even after travelling about 500 km in a vehicle as deafening roars was heard across the sanctuary in the night. The tiger also seemed happy and had an hour of bath inside the special enclosure made for him at Raigoda, said Regional Chief Conservation of Forest (RCCF) Sudarshan Panda.
The RBT had last hunted a deer in Kanha four days back and the wild boar was its first meal in Satkosia. It took about two-and-a-half hours for the new guest to finish half of its prey. In the morning, the tiger roamed around in the new ambience for some time and played in water for more than an hour. This proved to be a big relief for the officials who were not sure as to how the 190 kg RBT, with a length of six ft and 125 cm height, would respond to the new surroundings and what would be its behaviour.
The tiger hunts once between five and seven days and the department has kept its food ready for the interim period, officials said.
Meanwhile, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Debabrata Swain, RCCF Panda, Satkosia DFO SMDT Rahman, ACF Shuvendu Behera, two veterinary physicians from MP and two others from Odisha were present near the enclosure to keep a watch on the RBT’s movement, roaring and other habits.
Tight security arrangements have been made with the installation of night vision cameras around the enclosure for round-the-clock surveillance.
The RBT would be released in the forest as per the recommendations of National Tiger Conservation Authority scientists and specialist veterinary officials, the RCCF said.
PNN
