Tigress Sundari back in MP as translocation project fails

Bhopal A tigress was translocated to Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) from Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha in the wee hours of Thursday, a forest official said

Published on: Mar 26, 2021, 24:10:24 IST

By Shruti Tomar

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Bhopal A tigress was translocated to Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) from Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha in the wee hours of Thursday, a forest official said.

Tigress Sundari, who was relocated from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve three years ago as part of a rehabilitation programme, returned to the state after travelling about 700 km, the official added.

The tiger was tranquilized and brought in a van fitted with a cage and released in Ghorela enclosure of Mukki area of KTR in Balaghat district, Rajneesh Singh, public relation officer of wildlife wing of the forest, said.

“A team of veterinary doctors checked and left the big cat in the enclosure on Thursday morning. The tigress is completely healthy and active,” KTR joint director S K Sinha said.

Alok Kumar, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), Madhya Pradesh, said: “As part of the rewilding process, we have to check how the tigress is adopting to the habitat and whether she has the capability to kill her prey. On that basis, we will decide whether to release her in the forest or not.”

In 2018, Sundari, along with a male tiger Mahavir, was taken to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve under the first inter-state tiger relocation project in the country, to shore up the tiger population in the state. The relocation was also aimed at reducing the tiger population in areas with excess tigers to reduce territorial disputes and to reintroduce tigers in places where their count has dropped due to various reasons.

The project, however, failed after Mahavir was killed by poachers and villagers staged a protest against Sundari as she had reportedly attacked some of them. The forest officials in Odisha then shifted the tigress to an enclosure.

A petition was later filed in the Madhya Pradesh high court, seeking return of the tigress following which the state forest department began the rewilding process, Kumar said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shruti Tomar
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.Read More

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