BHUBANESWAR /ANGUL : Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday made the first move to take back its tigress Sundari from Satkosia but called upon Odisha to take care of the big cat till arrangements for its relocation are made. The request was made to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik by MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan though no time-frame was given for the relocation.
In his letter to Naveen, Shivraj said, to strengthen tiger population in the country, MP had spared a pair of tigers for Satkosia Tiger Reserve as per advice of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The male died while Sundari was moved to an enclosure after loss of human lives in conflict. Citing media reports Shivrajsaid, the tigress has not been kept as per the wildlife protection norms after being shifted to Raigoda enclosure.
Take care of Sundari till we are ready: Shivraj to Naveen
“A team sent to Satkosia for bringing it back found that the tigress had lost its wild instincts due to prolonged confinement in the enclosure,” he said. The expert team from MP also found that release of Sundari could pose danger to its life as well of the people because it has long been in confinement and had contact with human beings. The team suggested that Sundari be kept in a tiger safari.
NTCA, he said, has given nod for three tiger safaris in Bandhavgarh, Pench and Kanha tiger reserve. Till these projects are completed, Sundari will be kept at Ghorela centre in Kanha. However, currently an orphaned cub is being trained for rewilding at Ghorela and it won’t be possible to shift Sundari back till the former is released to the wild.
The move from Chouhan came a fortnight after MP High Court upheld the order of NTCA on shifting the tigress to Kanha from Satkosia. Sundari was one of the two big cats translocated from MP as part India’s first tiger re-introduction project. Moved from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in June 2018, it was released in Satkosia but soon ran into resistance from villages located on the fringes of the tiger habitat forcing the Odisha Forest Department to shift it to Raigoda enclosure on November 7.
A week days later, Mahavir, the other big cat which was part of the project, was found dead with a snare around its neck forcing the apex tiger body to suspend the project for an indefinite period.
Rs 15 lakh for kin of deceased scribe Prabir
Bhubaneswar: The State government on Wednesday sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh to the kin of deceased journalist Prabir Pradhan who succumbed to the Covid-19 on November 5. The funds have been released in accordance with the rules of Odisha Working Journalists Welfare Fund. Pradhan was a senior crime reporter with an Odia news channel. He lost his life while undergoing treatment.