Panna has a new resident - Kanha’s orphan tigress
November 13th, 2011 - 2:13 pm ICT by IANSBhopal, Nov 13 (IANS) An orphan tigress of Kanha National Park was Sunday morning released into the forests of Panna National Park under the rewilding programme of the wildlife authorities.
The tigress of the Kanha will join her sister who was translocated eight months ago to Panna.
“We will keep a close watch on the movements of this tigress (called T5) in the first 15 to 30 days,” R. Sriniwas Murthy, the field director of Panna Tiger Reserve, told IANS.
“But it will at least take three months for her to adapt fully to the surroundings of Panna,” he said. “Her sister has adapted to the environment successfully and is doing things on her own, we hope she (T5) will also adopt it,” he added.
Earlier, the tigress which was translocated by road under the supervision of wildlife doctors and officers of Kanha National Park, reached Panna Saturday night covering a distance of 450 km.
Before the translocation, the tigress was tranquilised while her physical parameters were recorded and a radio-caller attached to her in the presence of Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun) specialists, said Kanha National Park director J.S. Chouhan.
The six-year-old tigress is among the three cubs that survived after their mother died fighting a tiger.
These cubs were later housed in a specially-built enclosure in Mukki Circle by Kanha management to expose them to the killing of prey.
The male cub was shifted to Van Vihar in Bhopal about three years ago while the two tigresses had successfully developed their natural instinct of killing prey in the enclosure.
The mother trains her cubs in the killing of prey and if she dies before she can do so, such cubs cannot be released in the wild and are sent to zoos.
The Kanha and Panna national parks are two of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The 1,945 sq km Kanha park was set up in 1955. According to Tiger Census-2011, Kanha has about 60 tigers.
Spread across over 500 sq km, Panna was created in 1981. Now Panna has five adult tigers — one male and four females — and six cubs.
(Shahnawaz Akhtar can be contacted at shahnawaz.a@ians.in)
- Kanha's second orphaned tigress sent to Panna reserve - Nov 13, 2011
- Panna all set to welcome Kanha tigress - Mar 25, 2011
- Roaring news! Translocated tigress gives birth - Dec 17, 2011
- Kanha tigress finds new home in Panna forest - Mar 27, 2011
- Panna to get two Kanha tiger princesses in December - Nov 24, 2010
- Heavy rain delays translocation of Kanha tigress to Panna - Mar 26, 2011
- Panna reserve celebrates with three new tiger cubs - May 09, 2010
- Sariska tigers feature in BBC series (With Images) - Feb 02, 2012
- Tigers in Kanha to be recounted - Apr 18, 2011
- Scouting for male company for Panna's tigresses! - Sep 24, 2009
- Panna tigresses to get male companion in a fortnight - Oct 11, 2009
- Madhya Pradesh's tiger breeding plans hit a snag - Dec 25, 2009
- Controversy dogs translocation of Indian bison - Feb 09, 2011
- Steps mooted to protect straying Ranthambore Park tigers - Mar 29, 2011
- 'Homesick' tiger found, returned to Panna sanctuary (Lead) - Dec 25, 2009
Tags: close watch, cubs, dehradun, eight months, field director, forests, kanha national park, madhya pradesh, national parks, natural instinct, park director, physical parameters, prey, sunday morning, tiger reserve, tiger reserves, tigress, tigresses, translocation, wildlife authorities