Still no trace of tiger several weeks after it went missing from Sariska reserve

Authorities have been trying to locate the big cat, which was last seen on January 15 at Rampura-Devra in the Sariska Tiger Reserve’s Talvriksh range

JAIPUR: An eight-year-old tiger known as ST-13 remains untraceable several weeks after it went missing from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. Authorities have been trying to locate the big cat, which was last seen on January 15 at Rampura-Devra in the reserve’s Talvriksh range.

The Sariska National Park in Alwar, Rajasthan. (HT Photo/File)

The tiger disappeared a day before it emerged that three leopards were poached outside the reserve’s buffer area. The carcasses of the three were recovered on January 16. The reserve, which lost all its tigers because of poaching in 2005, now has 25 tigers.

The radio collar fitted around ST-13’s neck around five years back has stopped functioning.

A forest official familiar with the matter said around 35 teams and 20 personnel of Alwar, Dausa, and Jaipur North forest range were involved in the search operation. He cited a review meeting of Sariska post-tiger reintroduction and added it was discussed that the collars should be removed or changed as none of them on five big cats were operational. The collar has a life of two to three years. “We asked for permission from NTCA [National Tiger Conservation Authority] to change collar of ST-13, which is pending for approval.”

Sariska Tiger Foundation founder secretary Dinesh Durrani said they wish the collar had been functioning, then the tiger would not have gone missing. “The forest department should either remove the collar or replace it with a new one.”

After it lost its big cats, tigers were relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore National Park between 2008 to 2013.