BENGALURU: The Karnataka forest department is relocating and rehabilitating tigers and elephants coming in conflict with humans. But releasing them without radio collars is a futile exercise, say conservationists and veterinarians working closely with the department.
Experts point out that radio-collaring is needed to help understand animal behaviour and conflict patterns. A senior forest official, not wanting to be named, said: “During the last couple of months, we have not been able to radio-collar animals while releasing them, as we did not have sufficient stock of radio collars.”
The department was importing radio collars for tigers and elephants, each costing Rs 4.5lakh and Rs 5.5lakh respectively. In February this year, the forest department launched a tracking system called KP-Tracker, developed by the department and Bengaluru-based Infiction Labs Private Limited. The department also entered into an agreement with the firm to procure indigenously developed radio collars, particularly for elephants.
Veterinarians say they cannot wait for long for radio collars. “The tusker captured from Kudremukh National Park in November was released without radio-collaring. We could not keep the tusker in captivity for long, waiting for a radio collar. Similar was the case with tigers that attacked farmers near Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves. They had to be released at the earliest, ensuring minimal human imprint and so were released without radio-collaring,” said a veterinarian.
The importance of radio collars was also noted in the ‘Tiger Radio-Collaring, Tracking and Drop-off in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Karnataka’ chapter of Stripe-Tracking Tiger Movements: Insights for Conservation and Management, released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on December 21, 2025. NTCA researchers studied Nagarahole animal movement using GPS collar signals.
Experts manufacturing radio collars said in one year, they have supplied only elephant radio collars. “We have not been getting sufficient orders. In the meantime, we are developing tiger radio collars. The aim is to launch them within 3-4 months. The indigenously developed radio-collars are GSM-enabled, while imported ones are satellite-connected, but the licences are not shared. So far, we have no orders for radio collars from the state forest department,” the expert added.