Bharatpur Tiger to be translocated to Sariska soon: Raj minister

Tiger to be translocated to Sariska soon: Raj minister
Thursday, February 3, 2011, 21:45 [IST

Jaipur, Feb 3 (PTI) A tiger which had strayed intoKeoladev National Park from Ranthambore will soon betranslocated to Sariska National Park, a Rajasthan ministersaid today.

"We have received the permission to translocate thebig cat ''T-7'' and a team from the Wild Life Institute ofIndia, Dehradun, will translocate the tiger very soon," stateforest and wildlife minister, Ram Lal Jaat said here.

He said that all the efforts will be made for theprotection of wildlife animals in a planned way.

Chairing a meeting, he also discussed the progress forwater arrangement in Keoladev National Park (in Bharatpurdistrict) and monitoring of big cats and directed officials tokeep track of tigers and make every possible effort to protectwildlife.

Public representatives and senior officials were amongthose who attended the meeting.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had yesterdaysaid that the tiger would be shifted to Sariska Park.

Link - Tiger to be translocated to Sariska soon: Raj minister - Oneindia News

Poor thing. There is not forest cover between Ranthambhore and Keoladoe ghana in Bharatpur. However, this tiger managed to find its way to Keoladeo Ghana by hiding in sparse vegetation, sugar cane fields etc. It seems to have settled well in Keoladeo Ghana bird sanctuary in bharatpur preying on the Nilgai, sambar, feral cattle etc. Prey base is good and competition for food from other tigers is not there. So it would be pretty happy.

The only problem there is that the tiger won't find a mate. I hope this tiger would have helped in reducing the feral cattle population within the park. That would be a boon to the deers and sambars who face competition from the cattle.

In my opinion, rather than trying to relocate the tiger now, the forest department should watch it. If after a few months, the tiger shows signs of wandering out, then it can then be translocated, lest it again move out in search of his new found territory in Keladeo.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Some more update..

Relocation process of T-7 to Sariska begins
Anindo Dey & Rajender Sharma, TNN, Feb 16, 2011, 05.58am IST

JAIPUR/ALWAR: It's journey time again for the male tiger T-7 which has been nestling at Bharatpur for sometime now. A team from the Wildlife Trust of India (WII) and the Sariska Tiger Reserve will be arriving at Bharatpur late on Tuesday for relocating the big cat to Sariska. Union forest and environment minister Jairam Ramesh had set February as a deadline for relocation of T-7 during his last visit to the state.

"Relocation of this tiger will be a testing time. It would not be easy to tranquillise the animal as it will not be lured by baits due to easy availability of prey in the area," an official of the state forest department said.
T-7 is roaming about the Keoladeo Bird sanctuary in Bharatpur which has a good prey base, including many cows that were domesticated earlier but are now wild.

It has been a long journey for the male tiger from the national park. Last year, after attacking the then assistant conservator of forest Daulat Singh Shaktawat, who was trying to tranquillise the big cat near the periphery of the park, it strayed away from the area. It first went to the Kailadevi sanctuary and then to Band Baretha. From there, it headed straight for Mathura and after a brief stay there, came back to Bharatpur.

The entire relocation operation will be looked after by field director of Sariska R S Shekhawat and WII's officials Shankar and Mallik.

"Proposals are there to take the tiger from Bharatpur to Sariska inside a cage on a vehicle. The distance between Bharatpur and Sariska is not quite far enough for the use of a helicopter. We have brought cats to Sariska by road in the past. The male tiger ST-5 was brought from Ranthambore to Sariska by this method," the official said.
"It will be a risky operation too as the tiger has a history of attacking people. But there are little options," he said adding, "Last week, the tiger had been moving towards the populated area of Bharatpur. If left there for long, it may stray away to some other places." The Sariska Tiger Reserve currently has four tigers, including a male. This will be the third male tiger to be relocated to Sariska but with the death of ST-1, Sariska will have only two.

Link - Relocation process of T-7 to Sariska begins - The Times of India

Sharing this news from Hindu. The tiger in Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur has been tranquilised and relocated to Sariska. It had settled nicely in Bharatpur for the last four months preying on the Nilgai, sambar, deer and feral cows in Keoladeo National Park. Frankly speaking it was amazing how this tiger could come from Ranthambhore and reach Bharatpur, hiding in sparse vegetation and sugar cane fields. Of course it was spotted when it killed cattle on the way, however it managed to escape a hysteric crowd and reach Keoladeo National Park of Bharatpur. It simply shows how amazing instincts these creatures have. It is sad that despite successfuly reaching bharatpur, and enjoying the good prey density there and killing Nilgais etc, it has been translocated to the poacher infested Sariska. Poor thing has to adapt to a new area with less prey density, a few more tigers who are similarly translocated and ofcourse hostile villagers who are still residing within the Sariska National Park.

It might be pertinent to mention, that when Rajesh Pilot was alive, he had agreed to the idea of creating a corridor between Sariska and Ranthambhore. He knew that his village dausa is in the path of this corridor and he still agreed to the proposal. Unfortunately, he is no more and there are hardly any politicians who can espouse the cause of wildlife and understand the importance of protecting our vanishing wilderness areas.

Sabyasachi


Elusive Bharatpur tiger netted

SUNNY SEBASTIAN

Truant T-7 lured by the recorded call of female tigers; taken to Sariska

The elusive T-7 which was ruling the roost in the Keoladeo National Park (KNP) bird sanctuary near Bharatpur for the past four months has been captured by the wildlife authorities.

The tiger, tranquillised by a team of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Sariska Tiger Reserve and the KNP around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, was taken to Sariska by road an hour later.

Now T-7, a habitual wanderer who left his original home at the Ranthambore National Park for the Kaila Devi Sanctuary in the neighbourhood and later to Dholpur and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, is heading for Sariska as per the announcement made last month by Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh during a visit to Keoladeo.

DIFFICULT CUSTOMER

Curiously, T-7, which proved a difficult customer for the experts during the past eight days, was finally caught after it was lured by the recorded call of female tigers.

“We have been after the tiger since February 14, but it proved very elusive. Then we thought of trying this technique,” Keoladeo field director Anoop K.R., who was travelling with the caravan headed for Sariska, told The Hindu on Thursday evening.

“We requisitioned recorded calls of the female, and once I received them through e-mail, we played it on Wednesday inside the park at four different places on loudspeakers. To our surprise, the tiger responded and appeared from the thicket of juliflora some 100 metres away,” Mr. Anoop said.

WII's P.K. Malik shot the tranquillising dart and the animal immediately plunged into the thickly wooded area. “It was a great relief to find him unconscious across the road,” Mr. Anoop said.

The team on the spot, which comprised Sariska field director R.S. Shekhawat, forester Narain Singh and researcher Shubheep besides Mr. Anoop and Dr. Mallick, soon transferred T-7 into a wooden cage. The cage has been used earlier to shift big cats —five till date — from Ranthambore to Sariska as part of the now well-known rehabilitation plan for tigers.

Except for one, all other tigers from Ranthambore were airlifted by Air Force helicopters to Sariska. T-7 is the first tiger caught outside Ranthambore to be moved to Sarika, which lost a tiger CP-1, last year.

“Now T-7 will be referred to as ST-6 or CP-6, the sixth tiger to be introduced to Sariska,” said Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Rajasthan P.S. Somasekhar.

“We may keep the animal in one of the enclosures in Sariska for two or three days before releasing it in the park,” he said. “We hope it soon gets a real call from the three females there.”

Keywords: Bharatpur tiger, T-7, Keoladeo National Park

Source article can be found here: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/ene...?homepage=true