The male tiger that has strayed into the Nandan Kanan Zoo in Odisha from the Chandaka forests last week is under the scanner of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). While the State Forest Department is in two minds whether to retain it or release it, NTCA has suggested the restoration of the big cat in its natural habitat.
In a letter to Chief Wildlife Warden JD Sharma, it has said that the tiger should be released in Satkosia, a low density tiger reserve. The authority said that the forest department should follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with straying tigers, instead of retaining it in zoo.
The SOP in its guidelines clearly state that a healthy, young wild tiger must be radio collared and released in its original habitat or in a habitat with adequate prey-base and without issues of territorial conflict with another feline. It mandates the Chief Wildlife Warden with the responsibility of taking such a decision.
The NTCA’s intervention comes at a time when the State Forest Department was in two minds on whether or not to retain the male adult tiger in the zoo for breeding purposes on the grounds that the natural habitat of the tiger is unknown and its life may be at risk if it is released into another male tiger’s territory.
According to sources, the Chief Wildlife Warden in his letter to Secretary to Forest and Environment Department RK Sharma has conveyed that it is not known whether it has been driven out of its territory by some other male tiger or it came out due to incompatible territory conditions or mating urge, it was contemplating to retain the carnivore in the zoo.