BHUBANESWAR: After Zeenat, the Forest department has now decided to remove the radio collar of tigress Jamuna, who had been introduced in the Similipal landscape from Maharashtra under the big cat supplementation programme, as the device’s battery has reportedly gone dead.
Sources said the Balasore Wildlife Division has received instructions from the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) management to initiate steps in this regard.
Jamuna, who has settled in the Kuldiha landscape of Similipal since December 2024, was being tracked by the field functionaries through the radio collar and VHF tracking system. However, ever since the radio collar stopped working, she is being tracked through indirect sightings for the past few weeks.
A forest official said they have been unable to track Jamuna’s movement through the radio collar for nearly two months now.
“The last indirect sighting of the tigress was made around a week back. Field staff are tracking her movement through indirect signs such as pug mark, prey kill etc,” he said adding, Jamuna had been photo-captured through camera trapping around one-and-a-half months back.
Sources said following the direction from the STR management, the Balasore Wildlife Division has already started efforts to remove the collar, which will be done remotely. According to sources, no tranquilisation is required for the process. Even if the battery is completely drained, the radio collar retains enough power to get remotely unlocked.
The radio collar has been designed in a way that it will not cause any harm to the tigress even if its removal is delayed, the sources clarified.
Jamuna was the first tigress to be translocated to Similipal from the Tadoba-Andhari landscape in Maharashtra on October 28, 2024, to supplement the existing big cat population of STR and increase genetic diversity in the population. She was released into the core area of STR on November 9, the same year.
However, the tigress moved out of the Similipal core area into Kuldiha, where she established her territory. As tigress Zeenat gave birth to four cubs this year, the Forest department planned to remove her radio collar. However, the department had earlier decided to continue tracking Jamuna as she was yet to reproduce.