Angul: The Forest Department personnel again failed in their attempt to sedate Royal Bengal Tigress ‘Sundari’ at Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district Sunday.
“The transquilising team rode on the Kumki elephant ‘Yashoda’ which was brought in from Chandaka Forest Range for the operation. Sundari was spotted between Anakhali and Kadalikhola under the Purunakot Forest Range between 2 pm and 4 pm,” said P Ramaswami, DFO (Satkosia).
During the search operation, the team located the tigress and followed her. They came close to the tigress after two hours and the tranquilising team darted at the tigress but missed the target.
“Later, she ran away into the dense forest and the sun had set, forcing the team to return to Purunakot Range Office,” he said.
“The team will begin their operation again Monday. We are also taking with the Karnataka Forest Department to bring two more Kumki elephants to join the operation in Satkosia,” the DFO said.
“A Senior official of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, Dr K Ramesh reached Satkosia Sunday to monitor Mission Sundari,” he added.
Following the death of two villagers after being attacked by the tigress, the Forest Department decided to relocate Sundari to Nandankanan Zoological Park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
Two teams from Madhya Pradesh have been trying to tranquillise and capture Sundari for the last seven days. The teams are headed by two veterinary doctors Sandeep Agrawalla and Akhilesh Mishra.
Sundari, the Royal Bengal tigress brought from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in June, had been released to the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in August.
A tiger brought from Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh had also been released to the same reserve July 6.
As per reports, this was the first pair of tigers to be released into the forest under the tiger relocation project.
PNN
