A two-year-old Royal Bengal tigress, named Sundari, brought from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh to the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul district has started adapting to the new climate by hunting and eating inside a 2.5-acre enclosure.
While a three-year-old Royal Bengar tiger, named ‘Kanha’ had been brought to Satkosia on June 21, forest officials are not optimistic that Kahna and Sundari would soon set up a family.
The State Government has plans to relocate at least six tigers from Madhya Pradesh for increasing the big cat population at Satkosia, where only two aged (13-year-old) female tigresses live now. In 2008, Satakosia had eight tigers.
As the tiger population did not rise, the State Government has brought a tiger couple from Madhya Pradesh for reproduction. The tigress travelled 700 kilometer to meet her male companion at Satkosia. Both the male and female tigers have been kept in two adjacent enclosures, each of 2.5 hectares, according to information. later, they would be released to the wild forests with suggestions of experts, said Forest and Environment ACS Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.