SARISKA: A day after ST-1's body was recovered, forest officials feel there is a ray of hope for the survival of the missing ST-4, as they have spotted fresh pug marks of a male tiger.
According to Rajpal Singh, member state wildlife board, "ST-4 has been traced. The team that specialises in tracking tiger sighted fresh pugmarks near Mataji Ka mandir at the Silibery outpost. The pug marks were sighted this morning much before the rains and stretches for 4 km between Silibery and Rotkella." In a major jolt to the first-ever bid to re-establish a tiger population by relocation in a reserve, Sariska on Sunday woke up to the rude shock of the death of one of the two males that were brought here from the Ranthambore tiger reserve. The only other male ST-4 has been missing since the past fortnight with no signals being emitted from its radio collar.
These apart, there are three females ST2, ST3 and ST5 that have been brought here. Officials say that they have received constant signals from all the three even on Tuesday. But with none of them having conceived since 2008, the relocation bid by state forest officials has come under scanner.
News of the fresh pugmarks arrived early on Tuesday after which an additional force was sent to track the tiger.
"These pugmarks are much bigger in size indicating that they are those of a male tiger. And since the only other male in the forest is ST4 we believe it is his pugmarks," Singh added.
However, suspicion still remains as to whether the pugmarks are that of ST4 as the tiger has not been physically identified yet. Moreover, officials of the forest department are yet to get any signal from the radio collar of the animal. However, one factor remains unanswered. If at all, it was a territorial fight, how come ST-4, which was assumed to be a weaker tiger is still alive? No confirmation on the health of the tiger ST4 (after the alleged territorial war) has been received. And if there was no territorial war then how did ST-1 die?
However, HM Bhatia, chief wildlife warden, said that additional teams would be sent on Wednesday to the forest to confirm the presence of the tiger. "It got late by the time the team got into action. On Wednesday, we will press in more specialists to track the animal. We will also confirm why the radio collar was not working," Bhatia said.
Officials accompanying the team that is tracking the pugmarks of ST4 have taken im-prints of the pug mark on plaster of paris to match it with the earlier imprints of ST4. Former director of Sariska tiger reserve S Somashekar who was here during the relocation of the first tiger and Rahul Kumar Bhatia, APCCF, are also accompanying other senior officials here.
Read more: ST-4 may be alive, claim officials - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/ST-4-may-be-alive-claim-officials/articleshow/6939257.cms#ixzz15WpueCcB
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