BHOPAL:Tigress T2, one of the two tigresses to be relocated to Panna TIger Reserve in 2009 that played a crucial role to repopulate the tiger reserve in northern Madhya Pradesh’s Vindhyas died last week and has been cremated, people familiar with the matter said.
Officials said T2 died in a fatal territorial fight in the core of the tiger reserve on May 28. “She was cremated on June 1,” said Gaurav Kumar, divisional forest officer, Panna North division.
T2, also known as the “mother of Panna tiger reserve”, was 19.
The two tigresses were relocated from the Bandhavgarh (T1) and Kanha tiger reserves (T2) to Panna under a plan to reintroduce tigers to the reserve that had lost its own to poachers. T1 died in 2023.
According to the tiger census, there are about 50 tigers in the reserve and 90 in the Panna landscape.
Panna Tiger Reserve field director Anjana Tirkey said T-2 played a pivotal role in reviving the reserve. “She was the most fertile female tigress in Madhya Pradesh after Collarwali of Pench Tiger Reserve as she gave birth to 21 cubs in seven litter between 2010-2020 and contributed to at least one-third of Panna Tiger Reserve’s population,” the official said.
A senior forest department official said the original plan was to bring her sibling from Kanha but she disappeared at the last minute. “Running out of time, she was tranqualised and brought to Panna in an Indian Air Force helicopter,” a senior forest department official said.
{{/usCountry}}A senior forest department official said the original plan was to bring her sibling from Kanha but she disappeared at the last minute. “Running out of time, she was tranqualised and brought to Panna in an Indian Air Force helicopter,” a senior forest department official said.
{{/usCountry}}T-2 was quick to adjust to her new home. “She ruled the forest like a queen and became a favourite of the tourists,” the official said.
T2 delivered her first litter in 2010 and continued till 2020.
But over the last five years, her movement was limited to the core area due to age. “She was last seen by a forest officer in a core area of Panna Tiger Reserve’s west side,” said a range officer, who is not authorised to talk to the media.
Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said he had doubts whether the tigress killed in the territorial fight last week was T2. “But if the real T-2 has died, the forest department should honour her death as she was one of the tigresses, who revived wildlife of the Panna Tiger Reserve,” Dubey said.