Tigers leave overcrowded Panna for other havens
BACK IN THE GAME Four tigers have migrated from Panna to UP
The big cats of Panna Tiger Reserve, from where the entire population of the animal vanished by 2009, are now moving towards Uttar Pradesh’s Chitrakoot forests and setting up their territories there.
This has a brought cheer among tiger lovers and wildlife officials, who say from zero tiger population to becoming a source, Panna has emerged as the most successful reintroduction programme in the world.
Tigers had vanished from Panna by 2009 due to poaching and other factors, ringing alarm bells among wildlife lovers, activists and officials. A tiger re-introduction programme was launched the same year by translocating tigers from other reserves in the state.
Experts add that the movement of tigers towards Chitrakoot suggests that the population of the big cats has gone up dramatically in Panna, which has prompted tigers to look for newer territories.
Within a span of seven years, the tiger population in Panna has increased from zero to over 35.
Four tigers, including three males and a female, have migrated from Panna to Chitrakoot forests of Uttar Pradesh successfully and set their home there, nearly 125km from Panna.
A pair gave a litter of two cubs there in December 2016, who were seen and confirmed in April this year by the local monitoring party, said forest officials. Chitrakoot falls in the northern Vindhya mountain range spread over UP’s Chitrakoot district and MP’s Satna district.
Field director of Panna Tiger Reserve, Vivek Jain, said the growth in the numbers of the big cat shows the success of the programme. “But this has also increased the challenges before us. First, we used to focus on 576 sq km core, but now we are also focusing on an additional buffer zone of nearly 1000 sq km. Besides, we have to coordinate with forest officials in other areas if the tigers move far away”, he said. Jain said the movement was more towards the west and southwest direction, adding it was rare for a tigress to migrate so far.
R Sreenivasa Murthy, additional principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), who was the field director of Panna from 2009 to 2015, said: “I am overwhelmed. It is a dream come true where Panna tigers migrate 125km away and create new meta populations of their own. Panna is now acting as a source of population for creating meta-populations around the landscape,” he said.
Murthy added, “Involving local people has contributed to the programme’s success. This is evident from almost negligible poaching of tigers in the area.”