A tiger has been fitted with a special satellite collar with a GPS system to track its progress after wildlife authorities nursed the injured cat that strayed into a popular tourist resort in southern Nepal's Chitwan National Park.
A tiger has been fitted with a special satellite collar with a GPS system to track its progress after wildlife authorities nursed the injured cat that strayed into a popular tourist resort in southern Nepal's Chitwan National Park.
"This translocation — the first of its kind in Nepal — is a concrete example of our commitment to saving wild tigers using the best science available, including the application of cutting-edge technologies," said Deepak Bohara, the minister of forest and soil conservation.
"I am confident that by working together the global community can reach the goals we set ourselves at the recently concluded tiger summit to save tigers to benefit people, nations and nature," he said.
The injured male tiger - named Namobuddha by park authorities - was nursed back to health after it strayed into a tourist resort Sauraha on the outskirts of the Chitwan national park, a major tourist attraction, in September last year, according to the WWF.
The big cat, fitted with a GPS plus GLOBALSTAR-3 satellite collar so its progress can be tracked, has now been moved to a new home in Bardia National Park for the first time yesterday.
The translocation was led by the government authorities with support from WWF Nepal and the National Trust for Nature Conservation as the country marks the 'Year of the Tiger.'
The government has stepped up efforts to double its population of Royal Bengal tigers, which once roamed the country's southern Teari plains bordering India in large numbers but have become victims of poaching and the shrinking of their habitat.
A WWF survey carried out in 2008 found just 121 adult tigers of breeding age in the country. According to the WWF, tigers are in serious danger of becoming extinct in the wild. Over the last century, their population has been cut by by 95%, from 100,000 in 1900 to only around 3,200 tigers.
A team of wildlife veterinarians, wildlife biologists, park staff and conservationists tranquilized the tiger and fitted it with a GPS plus GLOBALSTAR-3 satellite collar on 21 January.
"WWF is pleased to have played a part in the pioneering tiger translocation led by the government of Nepal," said Anil Manandhar, WWF Nepal's country representative.
"As a global conservation organization, we have been part of the Nepal’s evolving conservation landscape—from species protection to the successful Terai Arc Landscape—for over four decades, and remain committed to working together with our partners to help save nature for future generations," he said.
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