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Tiger translocation plan shelved for now
The NTCA also said that the Odisha forest and wildlife department has made mess out of the monitoring and management of the relocated tigress.
India’s first project involving inter-state translocation of tigers seems to have ended in a failure with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) deciding to recall a 40-month-old tigress from Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve to Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha Tiger Reserve, according to a communication from the authority to the Odisha government.
The NTCA also said that the Odisha forest and wildlife department has made mess out of the monitoring and management of the relocated tigress.
In a letter to Odisha chief secretary, NTCA deputy inspector general Surender Mehra said tigress Sundari relocated from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh under the project of “augmentation and recovery of tiger population in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve” of Angul district was not monitored and managed according to the standard operating procedure set by the NTCA.
In June 2018, a tiger couple from Madhya were relocated to Satkosia to repopulate the reserve’s dwindling big cat population.
Mahabir, the male tiger, allegedly died due to poaching. Sundari, the tigress, is kept in an enclosure in the tiger reserve after it killed a 45-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man living inside the reserve and tried to attack a TV reporter in September last year. The alleged assault triggered violence by locals who burned the forest department’s boats and beat house.
“The tigress cannot be allowed to be kept in a small enclosure any longer and in the interest of tiger conservation, the tiger will have to be brought to the Kanha Tiger Reserve with immediate effect. The tiger translocation programme at the Satkosia Tiger Reserve shall be suspended till the ground situation improves as per guidelines,” the NTCA said in a letter.
Repeated messages to the state government about the two translocated tigers were not taken seriously by the state forest and wildlife department, according to the letter.
“The tigress(Sundari) was captured without following the process laid down and relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act. The tigress has been kept in a small enclosure for more than one year without any effort to release it into wild as per the protocol,” the NTCA said.
Expressing dismay over the lack of preparation for the reintroduction of tigers in Satkosia reserve, the NTCA said the Odisha forest and wildlife department could not take steps for prey augmentation, creation of inviolate space, eco-development, capacity building of staff and enhancement of protection in spite of availability of sufficient funds and technical support.
NTCA also alleged that the funds provided under the central scheme of Project Tiger were diverted from specified items without authorisation and substantial release of funds has not showed any significant output.
Odisha chief willdife warden HS Upadhyay said he did not see withdrawal of Sundari as a setback to the tiger relocation exercise. “The public was against the tiger relocation last year. There were prolonged violent protests and the atmosphere was not conducive. Public opinion is very important. When Mahabir was brought from Bandhavgarh, the people there were not ready to let go the tiger, but when it reached Satkosia people there did not like it,” said Upadhyay.
The Rs 19 crore ambitious tiger relocation exercise conceived by the Union ministry of environment and forests, National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India was started in June last year under which six tigers (three pairs) from different reserves of Madhya Pradesh were to be sent to Odisha.
