Expert Team To Tranquilize Satkosia Tigress

By OB Bureau On Oct 22, 2018

Angul: An expert team has arrived in Angul to tranqualize Royal Bengal tigress Sundari, which allegedly attacked two persons and killed one in the last couple of days.

The tigress is suspected to have mauled an elderly man to death on the outskirts of Tainsi village in the early hours of Sunday. Sundari attacked a journalist later that day while a man had a narrow escape when she pounced on him the previous night while he was returning to Hatibari village on a motorcycle.

The team, comprising experts from Bhubaneswar-based College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry of the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT), Nandankanan Zoological Park and Gun Assistants and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, reached Angul on Sunday night. However, the team is yet to proceed to Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary due to the prevailing tension at Tainsi village, reports said.

As decided, the tigress will be kept in an enclosure after being tranqualized.

Meanwhile, tension ran high again in the region after a half-eaten carcass of a bullock was found on the outskirts of Baghamunda village on Monday morning.

Police had resorted to lathi-charge after irate people of Tainsi village set afire a police van at Kanjara Munda Sahi near National Highway-55 on Sunday evening.

The villagers had staged a blockade on the highway by placing the body of Trinath Sahu (60), who they suspected to have been killed by Sundari, in the afternoon.

Following information, a team of police force led by the senior district officials rushed to the spot to pacify the villagers.

As soon as the police team arrived at the spot, the irate villagers pelted stones and set a police van on fire. As the situation went out control, police fired tear gas and later resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the villagers.

Angul sub-collector, local tehsildar and Angul IIC were injured in the attack. Vehicular traffic was disrupted for about three hours following the incident.

Police later cleared the road.

It may be recalled that Sundari had allegedly killed a woman Kailashi Sai of Hatibari village on September 12. Following the death of the woman, the irate villagers had ransacked the Dhandatopa Forest Beat House and Tikarpara Forest Range office and set them on fire.

Prior to that, the tigress had strayed into human settlements in Athmallik forest range and killed a calf at Bipradiha village after crossing an overflowing Chanagodi Nullah on September 2. Twelve days later, she was back in the village and killed five cattle.

Following these incidents, a team of experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau had arrived at Satkosia and monitored the movement and behaviour of the tigress for three days.

As Sundari did not show any sign of leaving the human settlements, the forest officials had decided to either tranquilize her or trap her in a cage. However, much to their relief, she moved inside the core area on the night of October 3.

However, a week after staying inside the core area, she again strayed into the human settlements and killed a bullock in broad daylight on the outskirts of Hatibari village on October 11.

Sundari was brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh on June 28 and released into the core area of Satkosia Tiger Reserve on August 18.

satkosia tiger