M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Feb 21: The Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) is looking for a re-introduction of tigers.
Chief conservator of forest and field director of PTR Kumar Ashutosh said, “We do want reintroduction of three tigers, one male, and two females. We at this juncture are taking notes from such tiger reserves where translocation of tigers has been done in the past.”
One male tiger and two female tigers are generally preferred as a package of re-introduction of tigers in those tiger reserves where their population is extirpated or visibly rare to be sighted.
A male tiger becomes sexually mature at the age of 2 years but can’t breed till its attainment of 4 years, read a note for the protocol for the re-introduction of tigers as adapted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Similarly, a 2 to 3 years old tigress is preferred which is independent of its mother but not in any position to establish its territory.
Three tiger reserves namely Satkosia Tiger Reserve Odisha, Sariska Tiger Reserve Rajasthan, and Panna Tiger Reserve Madhya Pradesh have witnessed import of the tigers from other reserves in India.
Except for Satkosia Tiger Reserve, where a male tiger was translocated from Kanha and one female tiger from Bandhavgarh, the translocation of the tigers failed miserably. The two other tiger reserves (Sariska and Panna) are doing fine.
The interstate translocation project of tigers was launched in India in 2018. NTCA is the prime authority to flag off the re-introduction first.
There is a watertight division between re-introduction and re-enforcement or supplementation of the tigers.
Healthy tigers and tigresses who are free of infectious and contagious pathogens are to be shifted only to some such place where they do not face any new problems related to their health on their arrival.
Field director Ashutosh said that the Deputy Director North division Kumar Ashish and Deputy Director South division Mukesh Kumar will be going to Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan once again to study the details of the translocated tigers there.
