Two years ago, two wild tigers were relocated from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha under India’s maiden interstate -tiger translocation programme which failed miserably. The two big cats were shifted to Satkosia tiger reserve in Odisha after its tiger population plummeted from 11 in 2004 to 2 in 2014. One of the big cats Mahavir sent from MP was reportedly killed by poachers while Sundari, the tigress, accused of killing two persons, landed behind barbed wires in a small enclosure raising questions over the wildlife management in the country. Many wildlife experts in India feel that the Satkosia fiasco should be probed and the people responsible for the plight of the national animal should be held accountable. Condemned to Captivity Before Sundari was condemned to captivity in Ghorela enclosure in Mukki range of of Kanha National park, the tigress had already spent an agonizing period of 28 months in captivity in Satkosia, where it was sent to find a new home and help populat
The dispersing tigers of Bhopal seem to be watching helplessly as their habitat grows smaller, food getting scarcer while a smarter set of predators, the land sharks, increasingly devour their habitat. As you read this, prowling somewhere in the fast-dwindling forests of Kaliasot- Kathotia-Kerwa , on the city outskirts, are 18 magnificent tigers, whose future hangs on the pen tips of Bhopal’s babudom. Pending Tiger Issues Many times, some of these dispersing tigers have left the balding jungle cover and strayed into the National Judicial Academy at Bhadbhada , as if knocking its doors for justice Two tiger issues have been pending for long. After the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) accorded a status of tiger reserve to Ratapani sanctuary , the source population of Bhopal tigers, in 2013, the state government needs to issue a notification. The matter has been pending for the past 7 years. In fact, Ratapani was first recommen