The Silli tiger is the latest cynosure of all. Its movement is under close monitoring. All positive feelings are that this tiger plays a major role here instead of just making a guest appearance.
The rescued cum released male adult tiger had a 'cool and calm first day' in the Palamu tiger reserve.
It sat and watched perhaps to reassure itself that it's in no alien land but in a familiar habitat where last year it had had a long stint here in the PTR.
"It spent its day sitting in the bushes and shrubs." said the deputy director south division of PTR Kumar Ashish.
"We got the information that leopards have begun to avoid going to the location where this tiger is," he added.
Leopards immediately withdraw and disengage themselves where the tiger comes.
On being asked as to how long this tiger will be living here in the PTR to which this officer said "It's a big question. We are also cross fingered. There is no guarantee that it will not push off from here to some other destination."
A tiger's push off is hastened by either deficient prey base, human disturbance or poor water availability to which Ashish said "There is a definite prey base. It's another thing that cattle that intrude to the jungles of the PTR for grazing also double up as our prey base. So we can't say there is any deficiency in the prey base."
As for human disturbance PTR's trackers and guards are 24 x7 working here to minimise it to the last extent.
PTR has an abundance of water. Its water holes and check dams are bursting with water.
Again asked as there is no tigress here in the PTR so the male tiger goes out of this reserve in frustration and dejection.
"Very rightly pointed out. There is no tigress here. A male tiger feels bad and frustrated not to find a tigress around." the PTR officer said.
PTR needs at least two tigresses. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has to salvage the PTR running sans any tigress over the last twenty or more years.
NTCA does permit translocation of tigers from one reserve to another. There is a very strict SoP for it.
Ashish said "I will place this demand for at least two tigresses to be here with our field director and state wild life board / management to take up this matter with the NTCA."
It's high time that PTR should have by now a couple of tigresses.
"If and when the NTCA permits us we can look forward to bring in tigresses from either MP or Maharashtra." he said.
MP is a prolific tiger state. It's no exaggeration. There are reserves like Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench and Panna.
"PTR shares many things with the MP's Bandhavgarh tiger reserve. Both have identical forest. The distance between the two is manageable by the wild life. Climate wise these two reserves have not much that they have not" reiterated the PTR officer.
There used to be two glamorous tigresses here in the nineties.
One was Begum. This Begum tigress was poisoned to death.
There is still no record to suggest as to what happened to Rani tigress.
Rani tigress disappeared and there was no mourning for it either in the PTR. Her disappearance from the PTR was hushed up then.
Unlike Begum who was given a tearful last rites, Rani was the most unluckiest in the sense that the PTR couldn't trace her carcass even.
Apart from these two precious losses of the tigress, there occurred one more death of a tigress in the year 2020 in the Betla National Park. This death of the tigress is as mysterious as the disappearance of the tigress Rani.