COIMBATORE: Officials of the forest department, along with the members of NGOs, are looking for a suitable place to release the tiger, undergoing rewilding for over a year, from its present location in Manthirimattam near Valparai, after fixing a radio collar.
It was on September 27, 2021 that the tiger cub was found stranded in a tea estate in Manambolly range in ATR. With the help of National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, forest officials shifted the tiger to a 10,000 sq ft enclosure in Manthirimattam reserve forest on June 5,2022 for rewilding process.
The forest officials are considering aspects like availability of water source, presence of prey-base like wild boar, spotted deer, sambar deer and gaur etc. “As part of releasing the tiger which is two and half years old now, we have checked a place at Varagaliyar near the backwaters of Parambikulam dam and noticed the presence of a female tiger.
The presence of a female tiger won’t be a problem for releasing the tiger which is currently maintained at an enclosure in Manthirimattam, Manomboly forest range. We will be fixing camera traps to ensure that the place which will be chosen for the release is free from male tiger dominance,” said sources in the forest department
A committee led by S Ramasubramaniam, conservator of forest and field director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), recently visited the enclosure at Manthirimattam and checked the health of the animal. It will send recommendation to the chief wildlife warden Srinivas Reddy in the coming days and he would issue an order to release the animal as it fulfils norms fixed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
A committee member explained that the animal has gained weight from 60 to 140 kg and will achieve killing of 50 numbers of wild boar and spotted deer in the next three months. He denied allegation that the tiger is taking time to kill its prey when compared to the other wild tiger due to lack of right upper canine. “The tiger has all the instincts including hunting and chasing similar to the wild tiger and we have observed the skills from a control room. We will send the report to the chief wildlife warden soon as we have to get few more suggestions from the committee members,” said a senior forest department official.
