With its landmark success in tiger reintroduction programme, Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh is attracting international conservationists to study its big cat management strategies.
After the visit of a team of World Bank’s Global Tiger initiative, Russian experts from the Global Tiger Forum are undertaking a 10-day study trip in the reserve that would end on Tuesday.
The high-level team is being led by Skripnik Tatiana (deputy director from the Russian Department of Natural Resources and Ecology and Dr Anna Fillippova (Campaigner, International Fund for Animal Welfare-Russia).
After the entire tiger population was decimated from Panna in 2009, the big cat population bounced back in the reserve to 25 setting an example in reintroduction programme. With the dwindling population of wild tiger numbers being a global concern, the reserve has become a research centre for international experts.
According to Rangaiah Sreenivasa Murthy, Field director PTR, the international workshop is a part of the training and capacity building programme where the participants will be oriented on the basic management practices of monitoring tigers in one of the highest density ranges of the country. The experts have deliberated on various big cat management strategies, including tranquilisation, radio telemetry, sign surveys, radio collaring amongst others.
Murthy underlined that one reason for the success of the programme is the careful choice of the big cats brought from different reserves. While two tigresses were brought from Kanha and Bandhavgarh, the third male tiger was relocated from Pench. The reason behind this choice is because the tigers are incestuous by nature. Hence, their relocation from the same reserve can make them vulnerable to inbreeding and birth of weak progenies.
According to Dr Aniruddha Majumder, technical officer for the GTF from WTI, “Such interactions form an excellent platform for exchanging information between the technical experts of tiger range countries who benefit from each other’s experiences on various levels.
Though there are 13 tiger range countries in the world, India with more than half the world’s tiger population ensures their sighting particularly in its high density reserves. However, in countries as Russia forest officers may not be fortunate to sight even a single tiger in the wild even during their entire career, given the sparse population in the ranges. “Hence, such workshops are specially for having practical exposure in the field,” he added.