Tigress in Odisha to return to MP after failure of translocation exercise

In December 2019, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) asked the Odisha government to send Sundari back from Satkosia

Updated on: Mar 20, 2021, 10:53:32 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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More than two and a half years after a tigress was brought from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha under India’s first interstate relocation exercise for tigers, the big cat will be sent back, signalling the failure of the exercise, following allegations of mishandling of the animal by Odisha’s forest department, said officials.

Mumbai, India - July 05, 2020: T1C2, female cub of Avni, now a sub-adult tigress, aged two-and-a-half years, has been kept in captivity in a 4.5-hectare (ha) area in Pench Tiger Reserve since December 22, 2018. She was captured around a month after Avni was shot dead by a father-son hunter duo hired from Hyderabad on November 2. (Photo : Maharashtra Forest Department)

Odisha chief wildlife warden Shashi Paul said a team comprising a veterinary doctor, a senior forest official, and 5 to 6 auxiliary staff from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh will reach Satkosia on Saturday to take back tigress ‘Sundari’, who was brought from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in June 2018 and released into Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha’s Angul district.

Paul said the team will examine Sundari’s health and then shift her to the Ghorela Rewilding Centre in Kanha National Park in the next 3 to 4 days. “If the tigress is found fit for the transportation, it would be translocated in the next 3 to 4 days,” he said.

Sundari was shifted to a special enclosure in Satkosia tiger reserve after it killed a 45-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man living inside the reserve in September 2018, triggering violence by locals who burnt the forest department’s boats and beat house. Mahabir, the first tiger relocated from a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh in June 2018 died due to metal snares laid by poachers that caused deep wounds on its neck.

In December 2019, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) asked the Odisha government to send Sundari back from Satkosia, accusing the state forest and wildlife department of messing up the monitoring and management of the relocated tigress by not following the standard operating procedure.

In December last year, MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wrote to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik alleging that Sundari lost its natural instinct and behaviour due to improper handling in Odisha.

“A team sent to Odisha to take back the tigress found that Sundari has lost its wild nature due to prolonged confinement and presence of humans around her. If it is released into the wild again, it would be dangerous for the animal as well as humans. Therefore, I request you to ensure proper care of the tigress until we have prepared fully to take it back and shift it to Ghorela centre,” Chouhan wrote to Patnaik.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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