BHOPAL: A team of veterinarians of Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) is leaving for Satkosia (Odisha) next week for health check up of tigress Sundri who is likely to be brought back to home state.
A pair of big cats-including Sundri- was translocated to Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR), however, one of the tigers died and thereafter the decision was taken to shift the surviving tigress back to Madhya Pradesh.
Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (PCCF) wild life Rakesh Shrivastava said, “KTR’s veterinary doctors are leaving next week for medical checkup of Sundri tigress. If she is healthy, Madhya Pradesh Forest department will chalk out plan to bring it back to Madhya Pradesh. If medical report does not suggest, it will be wise full to leave her there. Our stand is that if she is not well, it is better to keep her in Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha as interstate translocation is tedious job.”
T-1 tiger (Mahavir) and T-2 tigress (Sundri) were translocated from Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR), Odisha under the project- Augmentation and Recovery of Tiger Population in STR. The tigers were nicknamed MB 2 alias ‘Mahaveer’ and Sundri. Mahavir died on November 14, 2018. The death of the male tiger effectively sounded the death knell for the country’s ambitious first inter-state tiger translocation project.
National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) clarifies that Odisha Forest department did not make proper preparation for inter-state translocation of tiger. The plan was to ‘import’ a total of six tigers in a bid to increase the tiger population in Satkosia, which had dwindled to just one from a high of 12 when it was declared a tiger reserve in 2007.
