After Jamuna, STR Readies Maha Tigress Zeenat For Release Into Wild In Odisha [Watch]

Bhubaneswar: A day after arriving in Odisha from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra, the second tigress ‘Zeenat’ was released into a soft enclosure inside Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Mayurbhanj district on Friday.

Zeenat, aged around three years, was brought here after an 40-hour arduous journey in a special vehicle by a 10-member team from STR after being captured on Wednesday evening. It was then kept under observation for 12 hours before being released into the soft enclosure in north Similipal, a forest official said.

Odisha had set the ball rolling for the ambitious tiger relocation project in Similipal landscape with arrival of the first big cat, Jamuna, from Maharashtra on October 27. Jamuna was conditioned in an enclosure in south Similipal and later released in the core area of STR south division.

Sources said the second tigress will be released in the core area of STR north. The two tigress have been radio-collared.

This big cat supplementation programme is aimed at infusing a fresh gene pool in Similipal while combating inbreeding. STR houses 27 tigers and 13 among them are pseudo-melanistic due to genetic disorder caused by inbreeding which could, in the long run, adversely impact the population of the normal yellow-coated royal Bengal tigers.

Sources further said that a detailed project report has been prepared by the Forest Department to bring six tigers from Central India landscape to supplement the big cat population in STR. It will soon approach the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for translocation of the remaining four tigers.

The inter-state tiger translocation is considered significant since it is the first in the state since suspension of a similar programme between Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in 2019 after it ran into trouble amid severe protests by villagers living on the fringes of Satkosia Tiger Reserve, where one male tiger Mahavir and a tigress Sundari from Kanha Tiger Reserve and Bandhavgarh respectively were introduced in 2018. While Mahavir was later found dead, Sundari was sent back to its original habitat in 2021 after it allegedly killed two persons.

The Forest department has also received nod from NTCA to introduce three more tigers, two male and a female, in Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, this may take some more time to commence, the sources added.

The suspended tiger relocation programme in Satkosia subject can also be resumed subject to compliance to certain conditions, including voluntary relocation of villages, creation of more inviolate space and enhanced protection measures.