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Sahyadri tiger reserve to get a share of Chandrapur's roar

In a few years from now, you may not have to travel all the way to Chandrapur tiger reserve to see a healthy big cat population. The forest department is planning to relocate some tigers from Vidarbha to repopulate the Sahyadri tiger reserve in a first such experiment in the wild in Maharashtra.

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In a few years from now, you may not have to travel all the way to Chandrapur tiger reserve to see a healthy big cat population. The forest department is planning to relocate some tigers from Vidarbha to repopulate the Sahyadri tiger reserve in a first such experiment in the wild in Maharashtra.

The Sahyadri tiger reserve, located in the Sahyadri ranges of the Western Ghats, has just around five to seven tigers. The number of tigers in the reserve is low as the big cats do not breed here mainly due to issues like poor prey base in the Koyna wildlife sanctuary and weak links in the corridor connecting the reserve with the source tiger population down south. To resolve the prey issue, authorities also plan to release herbivores in the tiger project so that there is enough to feed on.

"The tiger recovery programme will increase the tiger population. We will be bringing in some animals from Vidarbha's Bramhapuri territorial division," V Clement Ben, chief conservator of forests and field director of the Sahyadri tiger project, told dna. This had been ratified by the governing body of the tiger foundation of the reserve last month.

The authorities are planning to tentatively translocate six animals to the reserve—which is spread across on 1,165.56 sq km in the districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri--including four females and two males.

Tiger translocation has helped enhance tiger population in reserves like Panna and Sariska, where poaching had wiped off these big cats. Cambodia, where tigers are now extinct, has sought India's help to re-introduce them.

The project will be run by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, who have experience in relocation. A consultative meeting for the proposed project is due to be held in Nagpur after which the plans will be firmed up.

"We have an estimated seven number (of tigers) as per a WII report. The issue is actually the visibility of the animals because of the terrain. We have installed around 200-odd camera traps in grids… every grid is on natural tracks. We should be getting a lot of images now," added Ben.

"Our source tiger population is from down south unlike central India where it is dispersed all through. The corridor is broken in parts of Shahuwadi taluka in Kolhapur where we have bauxite mining activities. The animals are coming in but they are not becoming residents. They are not breeding here," said Ben, adding that the corridor has to be strengthened.
Tigers also suffer from lack of enough prey at Koyna thanks to poaching, although the base at Chandoli now has good numbers. Authorities have now stepped up protection activities to prevent poaching as a result of which 35 people have been arrested for illegal hunting in the last six months.

Ben said they planned to introduce sambar deer, which is the most preferred prey of the tigers, and spotted deer from the Katraj zoo to build up the prey base before translocating the tigers. This will help create a healthy ecosystem for the big cats.

The Chandrapur territorial circle, in which Bramhapuri falls, has around 55 adult tigers plus sub-adults, which is the second highest number in Maharashtra. This is beyond its carrying capacity and leads to man-animal conflict and territorial fights between animals. This led officials to propose moving a few tigers from here to other rich landscapes where the tiger population was low.

Sceptics, however, aren't sure if the move will indeed pay off. "We must examine if the tigers from Bramhapuri can adapt to this terrain which is highly wooded and hilly. The Central India province is different from the Western Ghats," said an official, adding only a study would determine this.
 

  •  - Maharashtra has six tiger reserves. The tiger census, results for which were released in 2014, have said India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. Maharashtra has around 190 such big cats, more than the figure of 169 in 2010.
  • - The Sahyadri tiger reserve is the fourth tiger reserve in the state. It is spread over the Koyna wildlife sanctuary and the Chandoli national park.
  • - It has a 1,165.56 sq km area including a 600.12 sq km core and 565.45 sq km buffer.
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