Satkosia’s lone tigress missing for two months, forest officials rule out death

They said that though there has been no sighting of the tigress since November last year, field staff of Satkosia wildlife division have managed to gather evidence of hunting by the big cat last week.
Image of a tigress used for representational purpose only. (Photo | EPS)
Image of a tigress used for representational purpose only. (Photo | EPS)

JAJPUR: Forest officials on Monday ruled out death of the lone tigress in Satkosia tiger reserve even as it has remained out of sight for nearly two months.

They said that though there has been no sighting of the tigress since November last year, field staff of Satkosia wildlife division have managed to gather evidence of hunting by the big cat last week.

“Although we are worried about not being able to collect any visual evidence or pug mark of the tigress within its home range for some time, the big cat is safe,” said Satkosia DFO Saroj Kumar Panda.

He said that killing of an adult Sambar deer reported within the sanctuary area last week indicates that it has been hunted by the tigress as a leopard normally does not attack such large animals. Besides, the last footage of the tigress collected in November shows it in a healthy condition without any injury. Sighting of the tigress has been affected due to less number of camera traps, the DFO admitted.

“Some cameras of Satkosia wildlife division had been borrowed by other divisions for the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2022. However, the cameras have now been reinstalled and we are expecting to get footage of the big cat soon,” he said.

No sighting of the tigress since last week of November had been a concern for the forest officials as the big cat, aged about 15 years, is the last hope of the tiger reserve after failure of the inter-State tiger reintroduction project last year.

The big cat translocation project planned to revive the tiger population of Satkosia was closed down in March 2021 after tigress Sundari had to be taken back to Kanha tiger reserve. There has been no major development regarding revival of the big cat population in the tiger reserve since then.

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