Rajasthan: Injured tigress set free after treatment at Mukundra

JAIPUR: After two days of prolonged efforts, the forest administration on Thursday successfully tranquillised and treated injured tigress MT-4 at Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR).
The tigress had a soft muscle tissue injury near the left triceps and front paw due to which it was limping.
A press statement issued by deputy conservator of forests (DFO), MHTR, Bijo Joy read, “The tigress was tranquillised at 8.24 am by a team of experts. After treatment, the big cat was released in the soft enclosure.”
On Monday, the tigress was spotted by trackers after nearly two-and-a-half weeks. The staff observed that the big cat was limping and required treatment.
After tranquillising, the collar of MT-4 was also replaced as the existing one was non-functional.
Learning lessons from the past, the staff at MHTR is being extra cautious and replaced the tigress’ collar for effective monitoring.
Experts claim that along with GPS these collars also had VHF which monitors through ground links up to a distance of approximately 1-4km.
A source said the collar with GPS and VHF facility costs approximately between Rs 3.50 and Rs 4 lakh. Collars fitted to tigers in Rajasthan including those at Sariska and Mukundra were imported from Germany and supplied by a Delhi-based firm. “As GPS provides satellite-based movement of tigers which could span many square kilometres, the department has to pay the company in euros or dollars for receiving signals. Earlier, the subscription was not renewed. But, now it will be done as collar is replaced,” said a source.
Expensive radio collars with global positioning system (GPS) and very high frequency (VHF) systems fitted around the big cats’ necks in MHTR are not functional. This was revealed after death of MT-2 and MT-3 a month ago.
The forest department had come under fire when MT-4 was not sighted in MHTR for about a fortnight since August 19 when it was last photographed.