Bhubaneswar: A senior Forest department official has said the state government, the NTCA and WII were to blame jointly for the failure of the tiger translocation programme in Satkosia.
The NTCA has decided to suspend tiger translocation in Satkosia Tiger Reserve following the death of Mahaveer, a male tiger and confinement of another tigress.
The official said the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) were also involved in the programme.
“It is not justified to blame Odisha government alone for the failure of the tiger translocation programme. Apart from the state forest department, the members of the NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India were also involved in the programme. Therefore, blaming alone the Odishas forest department is not acceptable,” Chief Wildlife Warden HS Upadhyay told reporters.
He also did not accept the NTCA’s observation that the male tiger was poached inside the Satkosia area. Under the tiger translocation programme, two RBTs, one male and another female, were brought from Madhya Pradesh and released to wild in Satkosia Tiger Reserve. However, the male tiger was found dead and the female has been confined to a small enclosure which is against the tiger conservation norms laid down by the NTCA.
The NTCA in a letter to Odisha Chief Secretary said “The tiger translocation programme at Satkosia Tiger Reserve shall remain suspended till the ground situation in the field improves as per the NTCA guideline/advisory/protocol and subsequent feasibility study.”
