Tiger walks into Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha

[Mrudul Godbole]

Tiger walks into Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 30, 2013, 21:50

Bhubaneswar: In a rare incident, the authorities of Nandankanan Zoo have been successful in capturing a wild Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) on Tuesday as the animal walked into its safari on its own.

The tiger had recently set panic in the Zoo near here as it was freely roaming in the adjacent sanctuary area for the last few months.

"The animal was trapped in the tiger safari by tracking its movement through CCTV cameras", Sudarshan Panda, the director of Nandankanan Zoo said.

Some of Zoo staff had earlier reported the presence of a wild tiger in the forest adjacent to the zoo.

"We had also got pug marks of a feline near lion and tiger safari areas. We had fixed trap cameras to monitor its movement and had fixed a CCTV also," an official said.

The Zoo authority had set up a 20 member team to capture the tiger. "Our team members found through the CCTV camera when it entered the first gate of the tiger safari at about 12.30 am yesterday. Immediately the gate was closed from behind," the official said.

Later, the Zoo staff closed one gate after another by finding its movement in the tiger, said C R Mishra, deputy director of the zoo.

"It is a healthy male tiger of about 7-years-old,? he added. According to the chief conservator of forest (wildlife), J D Sharma, the tiger might have sneaked into Nandankanan Sanctuary area from Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

"It could have come in search of food," Sharma said. Asked about the next course of action, Sharma said the Zoo authority would draw attention of the National Zoo Authority and National Tiger Conservation Authority regarding rehabilitation of the animal.


"We do not know whether the captured tiger will remain in Nandankanan. Presently, it is inside the tiger safari," Panda said adding that there are 24 tigers in Nandankanan zoo.

Sources said a tigress from wild had entered into Nandankanan zoo in 1967 and kept in captivity.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It was found sniffing outside the cage of a tigress, so probably it has come inside for mating.

I remember there was an incident of a tigress from the nearby chandaka forest jumping into the enclosure of a tiger in 1967. At that time, the forest cover was good. In fact, Nandankanan zoo was set up so that it can be close to the forest. Today due to population explosion and expansion of the city, the forests have been virtually finished. The wildlife of chandaka/damapada is kind of gone except for a few elephants, deers and langurs. Institutes, residential complexes have come up all around Nandankanan.

The Odisha forest department can keep this tiger inside the zoo forever. That would be really unfortunate as it would mean a wild tiger being unnecessarily captured and condemned for a life in prison.

Since the forest department doesn't know for sure about the place from where this tiger has come, they can put a radio collar and release the tiger in the night outside nandankanan and track its movements. If the tiger has come for mating, then the forest department and zoo authorities should tactfully allow the tiger to move into the enclosure and mate with the tigress. That would mean about 3-4 days more inside the zoo and then release the tiger out of the zoo. It would give us lot of ideas about the movement of the tiger.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Now the tiger breaks free.

It was moved to a enclosure with wire fencing as per NTCA guidelines. This tiger is said to have jumped an 18 feet high wall and escaped to the nearby forest.
"The tiger escaped from the enclosure after jumping over the 18-feet-high wire fencing. His pug marks are clearly visible on the walls of the enclosure," Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray said.

If the height is indeed 18 feet than it is a superb effort. The normal rule of thumb height for placing a machan by former tiger shooters was 15 feet. If the machan is above 15 feet they used to consider it safe. 18 feet is a huge effort.

"We are sure to locate the tiger soon. It is not a man-eater or has ever attacked a domestic animal while coming to the Nandankan Zoo on its own," he said.

The zoo authorities have closed the tiger safari for an indefinite period as part of safety measures for visitors and investigation has been ordered.

A high-level technical committee which had PCCF and officials from the zoo along with one NTCA nominee had decided to keep the tiger behind bars till they can ascertain its original habitat.

Though I am against unnecessarily placing intrusive radio collars on each animal, in this case it would have been easier to place a radio collar to track the movement of this tiger after release from the zoo. Waiting endlessly to ascertain from where this tiger came is simply not right.

I salute the spirit of this tiger which has broken free. It should not be captured again.

Some more info about this can be found in the IndiaWilds Newsletter Vol. 5 Issue V http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/indi...vol-5-issue-v/

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

I was delighted to see the news in The Sunday Statesman 2 June 2013 and follow Shri Sabyasachi in saluting the Tiger for the remarkable intelligence, courage and feat demonstrated by it.

Here are some excerpts:

"A ROYAL ESCAPE......FROM NANDANKANAN

.......The RBT (Royal Bengal Tiger) proved it was more intelligent than humans. Perhaps it wanted to teach a lesson as the wildlife officials were engaged in the month-long debate whether to release it in the wild or retain it in the zoo. The debate would have gone on for months as the tiger experts insisted that unless they establish its original habitat they cannot release it in any nearby forest.
.............
.............

The intelligence of the majestic striped animal was proven when a couple of days ago it damaged the CCTV camera in the enclosure. The zoo authorities felt the camera was installed at a low level and hence they installed a camera at a greater height in the enclosure.

Last night the RBT (Royal Bengal Tiger) scaled the 18-ft high fencing, damaged the camera and escaped, leaving no footage of its escape for wildlife officials to follow its trail!

World over no tiger has ever scaled such heights! It had come from the wild and it returned to the wild, leaving authorities flabbergasted."

Following the pug marks it was found that the tiger has taken A HOLY DIP in the nearby water body after its escape from living creatures with no compassion!