Bhubaneswar: Marking an unsuccessful end of the country’s first inter-state tiger translocation project, tigress ‘Sundari’ will finally return to its home state Madhya Pradesh from Odisha.
Sundari and tiger ‘Mahavir’ were brought to Sakosia Tiger Reserve in Angul district from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh (MP) under the project in June 2018. Mahabir died due to metal snares laid by poachers in the sanctuary in the same month.
Sundari was shifted to an enclosure at Raiguda in the core area of the tiger reserve in September 2018 after it reportedly killed a 45-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man inside the reserve triggering an outrage by the locals.
In December 2019, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had pulled up the Odisha government for failing to monitor and manage the wild animal as per its standard operating procedure. The NTCA also asked the government to send back Sundari from Satkosia.
While both Odisha and Madhya Pradesh governments were getting ready for return of Sundari, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020 and the project was stalled.
However, Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife, Odisha Hari Shankar Upadhyay on Saturday said the Madhya Pradesh government has already initiated process to shift Sundari to Kanha National Park after he held a discussion with his MP counterpart in this regard.
