Bhubaneswar/Bantala: A Royal Bengal Tigress from Bandhabgarh tiger reserve project in Madhya Pradesh arrived at the Satkosia Sanctuary in Angul district at 8pm Thursday, a forest official said.
Veterinarians conducted a health check up of the 2-year-old tigress weighing 135 kg after its arrival and released it in the second enclosure at Raigoda inside Satkosia sanctuary.
A team led by ACF Subhendu Behera had to struggle hard to bring the tigress safely to Satkosia by travelling over 700 km cutting across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sohela gate, Bargarh, NH-55, Sambalpur, Redhakhole, Boinda and Badkera. Later, RCCF Sudarshan Panda led the team through Bantala, Mahidharpur, Hindol before finally arriving at Satkosia.
The tigress was relocated to Satkosia from Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh as part of the state government’s initiative to revive the big cat population in the state, Sudarshan Panda, regional chief conservator of forest (RCCF) and field director of the reserve, said in Bhubaneswar Thursday.
The five-year-old tiger was moved to the Satkosia enclosure from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh June 21.
Altogether, six tigers would be translocated to the reserve in phases, Panda said.
“The Madhya Pradesh government has already identified and sent a Royal Bengal tiger and tigress for the Odisha government initiative,” he said, adding that four more would be sent to the protected forest in due course of time.
According to 2016 tiger census, Odisha has 40 Royal Bengal Tigers – 13 males, 24 females and three cubs.
The tigress was ferried to Satkosia in a special vehicle accompanied by a team of forest officials and veterinary doctors from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, Panda said.
The entire exercise was supervised by officials of Wildlife Institute of India (WWI), he stated.
“The arrangements inside the special enclosure for the tigress would be similar to the ones made for the tiger. It would be fitted with a GPS and a satellite tracker to monitor movements inside the enclosure,” he said, adding that the big cats would be released into the wild, once they get accustomed to the environment of Satkosia reserve.
PNN
