Process on for big cat relocation to Panna

November 19, 2010   9:20:44 AM

Vivek Trivedi | Bhopal

Unfazed with the glaring controversy over notification of buffer zone at Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), the Forest department is all set to translocate two tigresses to Panna next month, as part of the ambitious big cat revival plan.

Park Field Director RS Murthy told the media on Thursday that two semi-adult tigresses will be brought from Kanha Tiger Reserve to Panna next month. These are the hand-reared tigresses; aged between 5 to 6 years had lost their mother days after their birth in Kanha Tiger Reserve.

After sending these two tigresses to Panna, one more male will be translocated to Panna, which is infamous across the country for tiger wipe out. However, the Forest Department is yet to finalise the date of the tiger's translocation.

Under the ongoing big cat revival plan at Panna, two tigresses - one female feline from Bandhavgarh and another from Kanha were shifted to Panna on March 6 and 9 respectively last year. Besides, a male from Pench tiger reserve was also released in the wild of Panna in November last year.

According to the original big cat revival plan, Panna is scheduled to receive total half a dozen big cats, to re-populate this ignominious tiger reserve, which once had more than 30 tigers but lost all of them due to poaching and other reasons by the end of 2008.

The plan had received a major shot in the arm earlier this year, as the tigress brought from Bandhavgarh gave birth to four cubs in May. This was the first instance, in the country, when a translocated tigress gave birth to a litter.

However, out of these four cubs, only two have survived while the others are nowhere to be seen.

Under the ongoing ambitious big cat revival plan, the State Forest Department also plans to translocate one more male to Panna in future. The State Government has the permission for translocating six big cats to Panna; four females and two males.

Significantly, the Forest Department is pursuing the process to notify the buffer zones at tiger reserves of the State but the matter of Panna along with Satpura and Sanjay tiger reserves is yet to be decided. The notification of buffer zone in Panna has got embroiled in the controversy due to the opposition of mines' operators.

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