Baripada: With the Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) brought to the state from Kanha National Park gradually acclimatising at Satkosia Tiger Reserve, the authorities are planning to send two trained elephants from Similipal sanctuary to Satkosia to keep a watch on the movements of the big cat, officials said.
Preparations are almost complete to send the two elephants — Mahendra Kumar and his adult son Rajkumar — to Satkosia on a special mission.
The 56-year-old elephant Mahendra Kumar was brought to Similipal from Karnataka in 2001.
The two elephants will stay beside the male RBT, which was relocated from Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia three days ago, and will have a close watch on its activities.
The tiger seemed to have adjusted with the new climate, environment and forest in Satkosia. The big cat hunted a wild boar, ate it and had bath in the water Saturday.
The tiger was brought to Odisha as part of an inter-state tiger relocation exercise to increase the tiger population at Satkosia Tiger Reserve, which currently has only two tigers.
Meanwhile, the two elephants have been brought to the range office at Shobadihi in Jasipur Friday. After their health check-up Saturday, efforts were made to carry them in a big truck, but it was unsuccessful.
“As the animals could not board the truck Saturday, they be could not be shifted Sunday,” said assistant conservator of forest (ACF) Arun Kumar Biswal.
Some local animal lovers have not liked the idea of shifting the trained elephants elsewhere.
PNN
