BHUBANESWAR: Tigress Sundari began her journey for Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh from Satkosia Tiger Reserve on Tuesday evening in a cage-fitted vehicle.
Before being taken to the vehicle, the big cat had to be tranquillised in the enclosure in Satkosia where she has been kept ever since she allegedly killed humans.
A five-member team from Kanha, which had come here three days ago to take back Sundari, first tried to plant a cage at the gate of her enclosure to allow her to walk in it on her own. However, she paid little heed to their effort. This forced the team to dart her and carry her to the cage following a health check-up.
Kanha will be Sundari’s third home in three years.
Sundari arrived in Satkosia in the year 2018 from Bandhavgarh. Sundari will be ‘re-wilded’ in the Ghorela Centre at Kanha.
“Sundari will be kept under observation to see if she will be able to survive in the wild,” said Kanha field director S K Singh.
The return of tigress Sundari has placed an end to the state’s ambitious tiger translocation project and exposed the Odisha forest department’s lack of preparation to handle such transfers. In the first phase of the translocation project, Satkosia received a male and a female royal Bengal tiger. The male (MB2) was allegedly been killed by poachers.
In December 2019, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had written to then chief secretary Asit Tripathy to return the tigress, saying she could not be allowed to remain in a small enclosure.
“The tiger translocation project at Satkosia shall remain suspended till the situation on the field improves,” the letter had said.
“Sundari will be kept at Ghorela re-wild centre. She will be kept under observation to see whether wild behavior returns to her. Then, we will be able to take a decision on her further release to the wild,” said Kanha field director Singh.