Two tigresses to join RT-91 in MHTR by month-end

After successfully relocating tiger RT-91 from Sawai Madhopur’s Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR) to Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) in Kota recently, the state wildlife department now has plans to relocate two tigresses from RTR to MHTR before the month-end.

RT-91 aka Mirza has spent almost six days in the 24-hectare enclosure in MHTR, where it has been kept since its “soft release” on April 3.

The tiger is expected to get the company of two tigresses soon. “We are hopeful of relocating two tigresses of RTR into MHTR before the end of this month (April) if we receive permission from NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority),” said GV Reddy, the chief wildlife warden of Rajasthan.

The NTCA had given in-principal approval for the relocation of one tiger and two tigresses from RTR to MHTR in September last year (2017), but recently the conservation authority put the order in abeyance raising certain queries regarding the relocation plan.

Explaining about the queries, Reddy said that an official from the NTCA had made a field visit to MHTR and raised a couple of queries. One of the queries was related to the memorandum of understanding with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for the relocation of tigers and the other was regarding the establishment of an enclosure in MHTR. The wildlife department has responded to the NTCA queries, he said.

“While replying to queries of NTCA to clear confusion, wildlife department has requested NTCA to allow relocation of two tigresses from RTR to MHTR,” Reddy said.

He said that the relocation of two tigresses from RTR to MHTR is aimed at pairing with RT-91, thereby increasing the tiger population in MHTR.

When asked about the release of RT-91 from the 24-hectare enclosure to a bigger fenced space of around 80 sq km in MHTR, Reddy said that it would be done within next 10 days.

MHTR is the third tiger reserve of Rajasthan after RTR in Sawai Madhopur district and Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district. MHTR was formed in 2013 through a government notification, but it took more than five years before RT-91, the first tiger, was relocated to MHTR. The park is spread in around 759 sq km area.