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Forest department to install radio collar on all Sariska tigers

Recently when the forest department arrested a poacher from a village on the outskirts of the park, it came to light that he had shot ST5 because its collar had been taken off after it stopped working.

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Tigers at Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) are soon to be a little safer as the Forest Department launched a drive to install radio collars on tigers in the park. The move comes after two precious felines — ST5 and ST11 — were poached.

Sariska currently is home to 15 tigers, both adult and cubs. Recently when the forest department arrested a poacher from a village on the outskirts of the park, it came to light that he had shot ST5 because its collar had been taken off after it stopped working.

"Before the Forest Department could come to terms with ST5's loss, the news came that the collar of ST3 had stopped working for the past several weeks. This news jolted officials out of slumber and forced them to take steps to ensure that no tiger is lost to poaching. Senior officials were contacted to receive permission for a modern GPS enabled radio collar. The permission was received and a collar has been fitted on ST3," officials said.
After this, it was decided that all the tigers will be collared so their movements can be detected easily.

"The GPS collar gives us pings at regular intervals which help trace the animal's movements. If it is getting close to any village or there is a chance of the tiger straying outside the boundary, we can post officials before the animal passes through that area and inform the villagers as well. This way not only the human-animal conflict can be brought down, but it makes the job of forest officials also easier as now we can respond to any developing situation and not have to remain unaware and wait for any development to happen," officials said.

Interestingly, though the drive appears to be a good initiative, there are certain issues with it. "The main factor is that the animal should be at a spot where it can be tranquilised. Sariska's terrain has valleys and steep hills. Along with this, a thick undergrowth of bushes and shrubs makes it difficult for even experienced men to tranquilise a tiger. On top of it we need to know if the animal has eaten anything or not because the dosage depends on that. So there are a multitude of factors and thus our speed is slow," officials said.

But once completed, tigers at Sariska would be monitored not only from the park using radio antennae to catch the signals, but also through satellite which will provide the GPS signals. "The GPS will be a major help in understanding these animals and their individual behaviour as well," said officials.

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