2 tigresses to be released in Nagzira today

CHANDRAPUR: In a first-of-its-kind tiger translocation in the state to mitigate the raging man-animal conflict in Chandrapur, two sub-adult tigresses captured a few days ago from Kolsa range in Tadoba in the district and Armori range in Gadchiroli district will be released in Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in presence of state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Saturday.
Following rapid rise in the number of tigers in Chandrapur district, cases of man-animal conflict too have increased in the last few years. As per status of tiger-2022 report, the tiger population in the district is estimated at 248. Forest officials maintain that the figure is even higher.
As many as 53 people were killed in predator attacks in the year 2022. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had in September 2022 granted permission for translocation of five tigers from Bramhapuri landscape which has high tiger density. Following approval from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), an operation to identify and capture the felines was launched in November 2022.
While the targeted animals remained elusive, the rapid response team (RRT) of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) captured two other sub-adult tigresses from Gadchiroli's Armori range and Tadoba's Kolsa range on May 17.
While these two sub-adult tigresses will be released in NNRT on Saturday, three more tigresses are on the radar of the forest department for translocation. The RRT of Tadoba assisted by experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will carry out the operation in forest under Bramhapuri landscape.