At a time when the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has proposed a corridor management plan linking Simlipal and Satkosia tiger reserves of Odisha, the presence of a tiger in Hadagarh sanctuary has enthused the conservationists. A recent survey has led to discovery of pugmarks in the wildlife sanctuary which most importantly is a part of a contiguous corridor linking Similipal and Balasore forests in the State.
The sanctuary, spread over 191.98 sqkm covering the forests of Baula and Satkosia in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj divisions respectively, is an important elephant corridor too. “There was no sign of tiger in Hadagarh sanctuary since the last several years. The finding is an interesting development,” said divisional forest officer (wildlife) Sangram Keshari Behera. An expert team of NTCA had visited Hadagarh and its surrounding areas to find that the forest corridor connecting Similipal is safe for tiger conservation, he said.
Given its connectivity with Simlipal, the forest has potentials to support big cats with its good prey base. Its mixed deciduous forests and wildlife has leopards, fishing cat, hyena, elephant, langur, pangolin, a variety of birds and reptiles.
NTCA team during its visit to the state to review and finalise the Tiger Conservation Plan had suggested that the management of two reserves - Simlipal and Satkosia should work out a micro plan for development and management of corridor. While the Similipal plan will consist of Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Anandpur apart from Hadagarh Wildlife Sanctuary, the Satkosia plan was recommended to comprise of corridors in Angul and Dhenkanal and contiguous parts of Jajpur forests.
In the process, it had proposed the expansion of jurisdiction of the Similipal Tiger Reserve by adding to it the Anandpur Wildlife Division in Keonjhar. This according to the sources was aimed at improving the corridor connectivity between the two tiger reserves of the state. The Tiger Conservation Plan is a road map for the next ten years.
According to experts, strengthening the corridor management would also help in restoring the connectivity of the two reserves with the larger Central Indian landscape. This would boost up tiger population while improving upon their genetic health, said the sources.