BHUBANESWAR: The Nandankanan Zoo authorities have proposed the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to set up a re-wilding centre for release of tigers in the wild. Sources said the zoo authorities want the centre under the Conservation Breeding and Research Programme in which tiger cubs can be kept in the re-wilding centre to give them an experience of the wild. The Zoo has proposed a 35 hectare land for this project.
"The centre, however, will not be set up in Nandankanan. It will come up either in Satkosia, Similipal or any other forest area to reduce human imprint and will be managed jointly by Nandankanan and the forest division concerned," an official from the Forest department said.
However, he said the project which is at the planning stage will be finalised by CZA after which a consultant will be appointed for preparation of DPR. The centre will help the department in repopulating tigers in Satkosia Tiger Reserve as well as other habitats, he added. In absence of a re-wilding centre, Odisha Government was forced to keep tigress Sundari in Raigoda enclosure leading to loss of its natural wild instincts and skill.
It has now proposed the Madhya Pradesh government to restore Sundari back to the landscape where it belonged before been translocated to Odisha as part of country’s first big cat relocation project in 2018.
Though Madhya Pradesh wildlife wing expressed its reluctance citing difficulties in re-wilding of the tigress which has been in the enclosure of Satkosia for more than a year and half, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has asked the State to take it back as it has two re-wilding centres. The NTCA is hopeful of completion of restoration process within a month.