Translocation project finds 2nd victim, tiger ‘unfit’ to live in wild
The botched interstate tiger translocation project of 2018 in which two big cats were relocated from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha in a reintroduction programme has now found its second victim.
Sundari, the female tiger which was brought back from Odisha to Madhya Pradesh last year following the failure of the project, is now being shifted to a zoo here after being declared “unfit” to lead a life in the wild.
“We have tried hard to remove human imprints in the mind of Sundari during her 15-month-stay in the rewilding centre in Kanha National Park. But, she has developed a tendency to attack human beings whenever she spots
them. “We now find it impossible to remove the human imprints in her mind and hence, we have decided to send her to Van Vihar (zoo) in Bhopal,” Kanha Tiger Reserve field director Sunil Kumar Singh told this newspaper on Friday.
According to him, Sundari is going to be shifted from the Gorela rewilding centre in Kanha Tiger Reserve to Van Vihar zoo in Bhopal in the coming week. “Sundari is the second victim of the interstate tiger translocation project of 2018,” he added.
Her male partner, Mahavir, the first victim of the pioneering project, was killed by poachers in Satkosia wildlife sanctuary a couple of months after the big cat couple were trans-located to the sanctuary from forests in Madhya Pradesh.
“Sundari has lost her wild character forever. Her case is a conservation tragedy. She is productive and could have yielded at least half-a-dozen offspring in the wild boosting the tiger conservation had she lived in the wild”, wildlife conservationist Ajey Dubey said.
Sundari and Mahavir were translocated to Satkosia wildlife sanctuary from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and Kanha Tiger Reserve in 2018.