WII Mulls Shifting Bengal Tigress Sundari To Core Area Of Satkosia Tiger Reserve

Angul: The four-member Wildlife Institute of India (WII) team, keeping a close watch on the Royal Bengal Tigress Sundari, has decided to shift her to the core area of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

The big cat had been straying into human settlement in the periphery of Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary and suspected to have mauled a woman to death.

“The WII researchers, accompanied by the forest staff of Satkosia and Athmallik Forest Division, are now tracking the movement of Sundari inside the Hatidhara forest in Athmallik Forest Division. The team is closely examining her movement and behaviour. If it feels that the tigress has the tendency to stray into human habitations and continues with her aggressive behaviour, efforts would be made to shift her to the core area of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Sudarsan Panda told the media here on Wednesday.

He, however, said the WII team, till date, have not found any abnormality in her behaviour.

It may be mentioned that the tigress since being release from the enclosure on August 18 killed six cattle in Bipradiha village in the Athmallik Forest Division on two occasions.

Notably, the villagers of Hatibari village in Satkosia had torched a forest beat house at Hatibari and the Range Office at Tikarpara after a woman was killed on the outskirts of the village on September 12.

Following the incident, a team of the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau from Dehradun arrived at Satkosia on September 14 to monitor the movement and behaviour of the tigress.

The team, after its three-day monitoring, had maintained that there was no question of shifting the tigress to from Satkosia. However, it had said that efforts should be made to safeguard the life and property of the people.

Tension prevailed at Lehedi village under Athmallik sub-division following the death of a cow, which, the villagers alleged, was killed by the Bengal tigress on the night of September 15.

As informed by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Athmallik, Samyak Samantray, the Forest department has provided compensation to the owner of the cow.

However, he said that the exact cause of the death of the cow was yet to be ascertained.

The DFO said that the Bengal tigress continue to roam in Hatidhara forest which comes under the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

“Taking note of the presence of the tigress near the village periphery, police and forest guards have been deployed in the village,” he added.