Kanha team to arrive  today to take tigress Sundari back to Ghorela

ANGUL:  Tigress Sundari’s days of captivity at Satkosia Tiger Reserve are over. A six-member team comprising an ACF and two veterinary doctors will arrive at the reserve on Sunday to take her back to Kanha National Park. 

Sundari has been kept at the Raigoda enclosure in the tiger reserve since 2018. “The team has already started from Kanha by road and is expected here tomorrow. We will hold discussions with the team to chalk out a plan to shift the tigress. Efforts will be made to put her in a cage. If it can not be done, she may be tranquilised before being translocated,” said Field Director of Satkosia and Angul RCCF Pradeep Raj Karat. 

He said Ghorela enclosure at Kanha will be Sundari’s new home. Ghorela is bigger than Raigoda and has enough prey to help in rewilding of the tigress. 

Sundari along with Mahavir were brought to Satkosia from Kanha under an inter-State translocation programme in 2018. While Mahavir died, Sundari became hostile forcing authorities to hold her captive. After that NTCA had suspended the project. 

Karat said the project at Satkosia has been suspended but not shelved. “We hope to revive the project by bringing in four other tigers from Madhya Pradesh. We are planning to shift some villages from the core area of STR,” he said.