BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh will prefer that tigress Sundari which was translocated with tiger Mahabir under inter-state translocation to Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) be sent to Nandankanan Zoological Park (Zoo), Odisha instead of bringing her back to Madhya Pradesh. It depends on health condition of Sundari. Mahabir died but Sundari still alive at STR.
Madhya Pradesh will send a high level team for diagnosis of health of tigress Sundari in Satkosia Tiger Reserve, Odisha, before translocation to Madhya Pradesh. Odisha forest department already has written letter to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that Odisha is ready to sent back tiger to Madhya Pradesh.
Two tigers Mahabir(male) and Sundari (female) were translocated to Satkosia Tiger Reserve under inter-state translocation ambitious project of the country in June 2018. The tiger pair was relocated to Satkosia to repopulate the reserve’s dwindling big cat population.
Mahabir, the male tiger, allegedly died in November 2018 due to poaching. Sundari, the tigress, is kept in an enclosure in the tiger reserve after it killed a 45-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man living inside the reserve.
Principal Chief Conservation of Forest (PCCF Wild Life) Rajendra Shrivastava said, “First we will send a high level team of doctors for medically diagnosis of Sundari in Satkoshi Tigre Reserve. If her health permits, we will take back to Madhya Pradesh. Otherwise, it is useless to take back. It is better to leave her in Nandankanan Zoo instead of Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal. It is not justified to give unnecessary pain to tigress during translocation. It hardly matters whether it leaves in Nandankanan Zoo of Odisha or Van Vihar National Park of Bhopal.”
