Bantala: Tigress Sundari who has been leading a confined life in an enclosed area of Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) has put on a lot of weight. Sundari weighed 134kgs when she was first brought to STR in 2018. Her current weight is 210kg which experts feel is detrimental for her health.
After being relocated to Satkosia from Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, the tigress had allegedly mauled and killed two villagers. So she was tranquilised and shifted to the closed five-acre enclosure created for her in the Raiguda range of STR.
Sources said that the forest department has been providing Sundari with pigs, sambar and deer as prey she can hunt and eat. However most of the times pigs are provided, the tigress has devoured more than 40 pigs in the time she has spent at the enclosure.
Pig meat has lot of fat content and experts feel that it is one of the main reasons why Sundari has put on excess weight. They also pointed out that with her movement being restricted Sundari is not being able to roam around freely. That is another reason why her weight has increased, they opined.
“A tiger normally kills boar or various species of deer and eats those. However, most of the time Sundari is being provided with pigs that are caught in the residential areas. Now most of the pigs that are being caught have some form of disease or the other. Hence other than gaining weight, there is every possibility of Sundari being affected by diseases usually transmitted by pigs,” said a few environmentalists here.
Regional chief conservator of forests and field director of Satkosia, Pradeep Raj Karat agreed that devouring pigs has led to Sundari’s weight gain. “Yes, pork definitely has much more fat content than that of deer,” Karat said.
“We wrote a letter to the chief wildlife warden Hari Shankar Updhyay informing him about the weight gained by the tigress. He visited STR Saturday and examined Sundari’s movements captured by CCTV cameras. Now we are waiting for his directions,” Karat added.
PNN
