Angul: Sundari, the Royal Bengal tigress brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, is slowly adapting to the wilderness of Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary.
The tigress was released into the wild of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in the core area of the sanctuary at 3.15 pm on Friday.
“We are keeping a close watch on the movement of the tigress. It seems to be adapting well to the environment of the sanctuary,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director of Satkosia Sanctuary Sudarshan Panda told mediapersons here on Saturday.
The tigress, whose health condition is absolutely perfect, has been under round-the-clock surveillance, he said.
The 8-foot-long and two-and-half-year-old tigress weighing 134 kg, was brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park on June 28 and released into a special enclosure, built near that of the Royal Bengal tiger brought from the Kanha National Park on June 21, the same night.
The male tiger, named Mahavir, was released from the special enclosure on July 6.
Panda also said that customized radio collar will help track these two big cats in the dense forest.
As decided by the Forest department, three pairs of Royal Bengal tigers would be released into the sanctuary under the tiger relocation project to increase their population in the reserve. After Mahavir and Sundari, efforts are on to bring two more pairs in phases.
There has been a sharp decline in the number of Royal Bengal tigers in the state. Satkosia was picked by the Odisha government to raise the population of the royal cats since it abounds with herbivorous animals.
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