A tiger and two tigresses from other tiger reserves in the state will be shifted from March 10 to Madhav National Park (MNP) in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. An official of the Forest Department gave this information on Monday.
Shivpuri district shares borders with Sheopur district which houses the Kuno National Park (KNP). 20 cheetahs have been brought from Namibia and South Africa to KNP as part of the plan to resettle cheetahs in the country.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Subharanjan Sen informed that one tiger and two tigresses from different tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh will be shifted to the MNP which is spread over an area of over 350 square kilometres.
He told that this transfer will start from March 10. Sen said this is the third time that the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department is going to reintroduce a tiger to a wildlife sanctuary.
He said that there is currently no tiger in MNP. He said that earlier tigers had been successfully resettled in Panna Tiger Reserve and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Sagar.
According to forest officials, there is good prey available for tigers in the MNP, so the tiger resettlement program has been approved by the Centre. He said that most probably the tigers from the tiger reserve of Panna, Satpura and Bandhavgarh would be shifted to MNP.
Officials said the tigers would be kept in a separate enclosure at the MNP for some time before being released into the wild. He said, “Radio collars will be installed in these tigers. After releasing the tigers in the wild, three teams have been formed to keep an eye on them.”
Sen said that in the 1970s, the MNP had a good population of tigers. According to the local people, since 2010 no tiger has been seen in the MNP and its surrounding area.
According to reports, for some time in 2010-2012, tigers from Rajasthan roamed around the MNP. Wildlife experts said that the tigers in the MNP were lost mainly due to poaching by the royals.
