Rajaji Tiger Reserve authorities seek resumption of big cat relocation

Rajaji Tiger Reserve authorities have sought the National Tiger Conservation Authority's approval for restarting the process of relocation of tigers to the reserve, an official said on Thursday.

The NTCA had temporarily put on hold the tiger relocation process after a tiger, translocated from the Corbett Tiger Reserve to the RTR, had fled from its enclosure at Motichur and dropping behind its radio-collar just a couple of days after being moved to its new location.

The idea was to let the relocated tigers first settle down in their new location and then push the process of relocation further ahead.

''Now that the tiger, which had fled from its enclosure, has been traced roaming comfortably in the company of the relocated tigress in the Motichur range and seems to have acclimatised itself fully to its changed surroundings,'' RTR director Dharmesh Kumar Singh told PTI on Thursday.

''We have written to the NTCA seeking its approval for resuming the relocation process,'' Singh said.

Camera-trap footages of the two tigers are also being sent to the NTCA to show how well they have taken to their new surroundings, the official said.

A tiger and a tigress had been moved from Corbett in December-January as part of the Uttarakhand tiger relocation project to increase tiger population in the western part of the RTR.

Three more tigers, one male and two females, will be moved from Corbett to the RTR by December next year, Singh said.

One tigress at Corbett has been identified already for the purpose and a team of experts is keeping an eye on its movements, the RTR director said.

He expressed hope that the NTCA would give its nod to the resumption of the tiger relocation process after going through the camera footage sent by the RTR authorities. PTI CORR ALM HMB