BHUBANESWAR: In a fresh lease of hope for the state government’s efforts to revive tiger population in Satkosia, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has underlined that focus on increasing prey base and promoting voluntary village relocation will create favourable environment for resumption of the big cat relocation project in the tiger reserve.
NTCA in its ‘Status of Tigers - Co-predators and prey in India - 2022’ report has stressed improved conservation approaches and obstacles faced in the previous reintroduction project that could lead to re-launch of the tiger relocation project in Satkosia. The tiger reserve spread over 963.87 km in Angul, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, and Boudh has a core area spanning 523.61 sq km and a buffer area of 440.26 sq km. It, however, has remained tiger less for over two years now after a lone tigress of the protected area went out of sight in 2022. Both the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) - 2022 and All Odisha Tiger Estimation (AOTE) - 2023-24 exercises have failed to detect presence of the striped predator in the Tiger Reserve.
As per the NTCA report, an effort of 18,886 trap nights was invested during the 2022 head count exercise but not a single photograph of a tiger was obtained. In order to revive the big cat population at the tiger reserve, a pair of big cats Sundari and Mahavir was brought from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh under the ambitious inter-state tiger reintroduction programme in 2018. However the project was suspended by NTCA as Mahavir died and Sundari left for Kanha after spending 28 months in Satkosia’s Raigoda enclosure.
The NTCA in its report has now stressed the need to improve future tiger reintroduction endeavours in the reserve and stated it is crucial to implement enhanced conservation strategies including prey recovery to ensure an adequate food source for tigers, promoting voluntary village relocation to minimise human-wildlife conflicts, strengthening law enforcement to combat poaching and illegal activities and engaging local communities in conservation efforts.
“Adopting these improved conservation approaches can help overcome the obstacles faced in the previous reintroduction project and may lead to a more favourable environment for successful tiger reintroduction in the tiger reserve,” stated the NTCA adding that these efforts are essential for the long-term survival and conservation of tigers in the reserve. PCCF Susanta Nanda said no decision has been taken so far on tiger reintroduction in Satkosia. However, the Forest department has already initiated measures to improve prey base, create more inviolate space and encourage community participation in conservation.