State chief wildlife warden Shree Bhagwan speaking to dna confirmed that no decision was taken on the shifting of these tigresses raised in an enclosed area inside Pench national park.
Even as Mumbai and Nagpur seem to be competing to get the two hand-raised tigresses from Pench National Park, no decision has been taken on the new address of these big cats as of now.
State chief wildlife warden Shree Bhagwan speaking to dna confirmed that no decision was taken on the shifting of these tigresses raised in an enclosed area inside Pench national park.
"A committee was formed to decide the future of these tigresses from Pench and now a decision has been taken that they will not be released in the wild. Now, the next task involves in deciding where should these be sent but a decision is pending," said Bhagwan, adding that he will be going through the proposals that have been sent to his office from various places seeking the tigress and a decision will be taken within the next ten days.
dna had reported in February this year about how Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) field director Vikas Gupta wrote to Bhagwan seeking the two tigresses to not only increase the captive tiger population at the park, but also address the major concern of in-breeding among the present lot, which could lead to a weaker race. Also one of the main reasons for trying hard for these tigresses is that acquiring time taken within the state would be far less.
Sources in the forest department informed that it was not only SGNP that was in race to get the tigress duo. Gorewada zoo in Nagpur as well as a few more zoos from other states have also showed interest.
"Most of the officials think that both the tigresses should be sent to SGNP but there is also lot of pressure to send them to Gorewada that happens to be a pet project of not only the chief minister but also forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar," said a senior forest official, adding that chances are that one each could be sent to SGNP and Gorewada.
According to forest officials there were three tigers — two female and one male, which were hand-reared in a barricaded enclosure at Pench. The male tiger was given to Pune zoo in 2014 after being termed not fit for release into the wild and now the committee has also affirmed that the remaining two tigresses too should remain in captivity.
"We have no official communication about the shifting of tigresses to SGNP," maintained chief conservator of forest (CCF) Vikas Gupta.
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