A course of action has finally been decided for the five-year-old tiger that entered the Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) in Odisha from nearby forests in April and since then made several exits and returns at will. At present, in the White Tiger Safari of the NZP, the wildlife officials will facilitates its return to the wild.
The tiger’s repeated straying in and out of the NZP has been giving sleepless nights to wildlife officials for the past three months.
A three-member team of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is now in Satkosia Tiger Reserve to plan out its proposed relocation. The reserve is believed to be the original habitat of the wild tiger.
The big cat recently kicked up dust by jumping over the 18 feet iron mesh wall of the enclosure in Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) in Odisha to escape back in the wild in May 31. It, however, returned again a week later and since then is in the White Tiger Safari of NZP.
The expert team comprising Ravikiran Govekar, Bilal Habib and Dr Parag Nigam are in Satkosia reserve on Wednesday to study the feasibility of the place and finally decide on shifting the tiger to the reserve. “Our mandate is to assess the habitat, the prey-base, conflict issues and other factors pertaining to relocation if considered. We will be conducting our study over two days,” said Dr Nigam, Senior Wildlife Scientist, Wildlife Institute of India.
The probable relocation sites would also have to be taken into consideration on the basis of their vicinity with human habitations to avoid any man-animal conflict. In case relocation is recommended by the NTCA, it will also discuss capture of the tiger requiring immobilisation, informed the sources. The three-member team will submit its report to NTCA which will then send its recommendations to the State.
The development comes in the wake of recommendations by NTCA on June 6, calling for the release of this five-year-old tiger into the wild in Satkosia after radio collaring. It has also clarified of providing funds for the radio collaring and implementation of steps listed under post-release protocol.
The five-year-old male tiger, which has been in Chandaka forests and in the vicinity of Nandankanan, also a wildlife sanctuary, had entered the zoo on April 30. A month later, the zoo authorities had moved it into an enclosure. However, on the same day, it escaped after jumped up the iron mesh wall of the enclosure to return back and since then is in the zoo.