The chosen tigress PN-224 was tranquilised in Pench forest and put into the transit cage to carry to the airstrip around 05:30am for flying to Jaipur by an IAF MI-17 chopper.
File Photo: IANS
A young 3-year old Pench tigress air-lifted from the Suktara airstrip of Madhya Pradesh reached Ramgarh Vishdhari sanctuary in the Bundi district of Rajasthan Monday morning, marking completion of a historic interstate shifting of the big cat.
The chosen tigress PN-224 was tranquilised in Pench forest and put into the transit cage to carry to the airstrip around 05:30am for flying to Jaipur by an IAF MI-17 chopper. The Chopper landed at the Sanganer Airport here around 10:30 pm last night.
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After a short while, a special team of forest department officials escorted the tigress from the airport to Bundi by road last night itself. There in the Ramgarh Vishdhari sanctuary the big cat was released from the transit cage into a specially made enclosure around 06:30am this morning. After a period of observation the tigress would be released from the enclosure into the Jungle.
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Expressing satisfaction over the success of the exercise a Wildlife spokesman said “The safe translocation of the tigress from Pench tiger reserve to the Ramgarh Vishdhari sanctuary is achieved through interstate coordination, the proactive efforts of the Rajasthan Forest Department, and the support of the Indian Air Force.”
This is the first interstate translocation of tigers into Rajasthan, the second in the country. Rajasthan also holds the record of effecting the first intrastate translocation from Ranthambore National Park into the Sariska tiger reserve of Alwar district way back in 2008.
While the current process of translocation is aimed at improving the gene pool of the species, the process of the shifting in 2008 was undertaken to reintroduce tigers in the Sariska sanctuary from where their entire population was wiped out due to poaching and some other reasons.
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