Angul: After remaining in a special enclosure for 15 days, the Royal Bengal tiger was released into the wild of the Satkosia Sanctuary in Odisha’s Angul district on Friday afternoon.
The 3-year-old big cat, brought from the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh on June 21, was released from the enclosure at Raiguda in the core area of the sanctuary at around 2 pm in presence of Additional Chief Secretary, Forest and Environment, Suresh Mohapatra, PCCF Wildlife Dr Sandeep Tripathi, Additional PCCF and Field Director, Satkosia, Sudarshan Panda, DFOs of Satkosia and Angul and other forest officials.
“The movement of the Bengal tiger, named as ‘Mahavir’, inside the forest would be monitored through the radio collar with GPS navigation system fitted around its neck,” said Dr Tripathy.
He said before the release of the tiger, the Forest department had a meeting with the locals residing in the periphery of the core forest area.
Tripathy also said that the two-and-half-year-old Bengal tigress ‘Sundari’, brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh and put up in another enclosure on June 29, was found moving near the enclosure of the tiger.
“This is a good indication that the two big cats would mate very soon after the tigress is released into the wild,” he added.
Tripathy further informed that the Bengal tigress has acclimatized itself to the biodiversity of Satkosia and will be released very soon.
Considering the abnormal rise in the population of the herbivores in Satkosia, the forest officials are confident of substantial increase in the number of the royal cats in the days to come.
