MP Awaits Formal Requests To Send Eight Tigers To Chhattisgarh, Odisha And Rajasthan

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh forest officials are awaiting formal requests from Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan for the proposed translocation of tigers from the state.

They may send the proposal to the state forest department during winter. The process of identifying tigers for relocation will begin after the requests are received.

L Krishnamurthy, additional principal chief conservator of forest, wildlife, told Free Press that under the interstate tiger relocation plan, four tigers are to be given to Chhattisgarh, three to Odisha and one tiger to Rajasthan.

“So far, no demand has been made by these states. Hence, it will be only after receiving the demand that the process of identifying the tigers for translocation will be started. It seems that these states are yet to make preparations to receive the tigers,” he said.

Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Chhattisgarh, Arun Kumar Pandey, talking to Free Press, said that two tigers are initially to be brought to Guru Ghasidas Tiger Reserve and Udanti Tiger Reserve. Preparations are underway to construct enclosures and make other arrangements.

“The preparations in Guru Ghasidas Tiger Reserve will take at least two months, and it will be after this that a request will be placed before Madhya Pradesh to get the tiger,” Pandey added.

The official said the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had conducted a survey at Udanti Tiger Reserve and found that the prey base was insufficient to sustain tigers.

“However, we found that wild boar, which too is prey for tigers, was not counted by WII. Hence, we are going to make another request to WII to reassess the prey base,” he added.

Sources in the Madhya Pradesh forest department said that once the request is made by the aforesaid neighbouring states, then efforts will be made to identify tigers which could be translocated.

Most probably, tigers are to be translocated to neighbouring states from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Pench Tiger Reserve and Satpura Tiger Reserve. Last year, Madhya Pradesh had given two tigers to Rajasthan.