Madhya Pradesh CM's Slap On Odisha Wildlifers' Face Over Tigress Sundari,  Plans To Take Her Back

What can be described as a huge slap on the face of the wildlife authorities in Odisha,  is the letter from the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan to his counterpart here. The letter being a straight one that questions the severe neglect meted out to a tigress Sundari which was brought from MP about two and a half years to be an inmate in Odisha`s famous tiger reserve Satkosia.

The MP CM in his letter minced no words to point out the deteriorating state of the animal due to, by implication, pathetic failure of the wildlife authorities pushing the animal to abject isolation that can be detrimental for any animal of that family.

No government can afford to ward off the seriousness of the complaint there in which squarely points at the authorities in Odisha`s wildlife fraternity who failed in their duties to deal with Sundari brazenly sidestepping the wildlife sensitivities thus rendering the animal helpless.

It may be recalled that in 2018 there was a proposal, as gathered from insiders in the wildlife wing, for bringing six tigers was afoot.

However,  two big cats, Sundari and Mahavir were brought from MP`s Bandhavgarh and Kanha tiger reserves respectively.

Victim of Sheer Neglect

Somehow tiger Mahavir died last year in very mysterious circumstances after getting trapped in a trap laid by hunters/villagers to hunt wild boar. But the entire incident got shrouded in a clumsy hush up bid by the department and it was made out that,  the tiger died after consuming a purcupine.

That`s what projected to be the reason by the team overseeing the postmortem(PM) report.

If the tiger was caught in a wild boar trap and was found dead, how could the PM team found it to be a reason because of purcupine spike!

Fact is Mahavir was killed may be inadvertently but the purcupine spike was made out to be a cover fire to hide the lapses by the department personnel assigned to ensure the guest animal`s safety.

Sundari`s Plight Expose Chinks

The case of Sundari was more amazing! When she was brought to Satkosia tiger reserve, she was hardly 2 & half years old and had never been an independent adult to survive in an alien habitat and fend for herself.

Because a tiger of that age remains heavily dependent on the mother tiger for kills and security. "The step was taken ` without any consultation whatsoever with any seasoned wildlifer" a former wildlife officer of Odisha confided.

After that there, in Satkosia, the bigger shocker was the death of a woman attributed to be the act of Sundari. Whereas the real thing was "it cannot be a tiger killing because no tiger kills human without the neck of the prey mauled" said the former officer.
But that was tagged to be Sundari`s deed and she was soon tranquilised to be kept in isolation.

Wayward Priority

What could be gathered from sources in Madhvagarh tiger reserve in MP,  that Sundari was reared with her mother in a tourist-friendly area there and was never had xenophobic dispositions towards human beings. " Such tigers can very rarely kill a human when there was extreme circumstances like shortage of kills like dear etc" said the sources there.

Since then Sundari is in isolation in an area where she has hardly any scope for finding a fellow tiger for mating etc. Which in fact keeps animals disturbed and what added to the plight of the tigress was the lack of homing surrounding and acclimatisation in that patch of forest.

The question also comes that whether before bringing the tigers, was there any brainstorming about whether the animals brought from another state can get the conducive conditions here and whether the authorities had consulted the villagers around and make them aware of the cautions when a tiger was left in the adjoining forest?

Chauhan has pressed the point hard that, given the state, Sundari is in, for quite some time, the MP chief minister has expressed his desire to take back the tigress from Odisha back to MP.
For which the Indian Tiger Conservation Authority has already given its nod to the government of MP.

Once a pioneer in tiger conservation and breeding, the state`s Forest and Environment wing today goes wayward.

Stay updated with all the Latest Bhubaneswar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.