Maha: Two tigresses translocated to NNTR in Gondia district

Under the programme, around 25 tigers will be translocated from Chandrapur district to other places in the state to curb the man-animal conflicts, Mungantiwar told PTI.Maharashtra had 190 tigers in 2014 and the number rose to 312 in 2019 and now the state has more than 500 big cats.

Two tigresses brought in from the Bramhapuri range were released into Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in Maharashtra's Gondia district on Saturday as part of the intra-state tiger translocation programme aimed at curbing the man-animal conflict. A senior forest department official said that two non-troublesome tigresses were recently captured in Chandrapur district.

Speaking on the occasion, state Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the tigresses will be an attraction at the NNTR- spread across Gondia and Bhandara districts- and will hopefully help increase the big cat population at the reserve.

''This is the first translocation of tigers within the state. Under the programme, around 25 tigers will be translocated from Chandrapur district to other places in the state to curb the man-animal conflicts,'' Mungantiwar told PTI.

Maharashtra had 190 tigers in 2014 and the number rose to 312 in 2019 and now the state has more than 500 big cats. Vidarbha has the most number of tigers in Maharashtra, he said.

''The government had approved the translocation of five tigers in the first phase, and of these, two tigresses were released today into the NNTR, which will develop as the top destination for tiger safari,'' Mungantiwar said.

Three more tigers will be released into the reserve soon, he said, adding that CCTV cameras have been installed at the facility.

Sources in the forest department said that so far this year, tigers killed eight persons in Chandrapur district, while two others were killed by leopards.

In 2022, a total of 53 people were killed in the attack by tigers and leopards in the district, they said.

In the wake of rising incidents of man-animal conflict in Chandrapur, senior forest officials forwarded a proposal to the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) in Nagpur for its nod to translocate some tigers from Chandrapur to the NNTR.

Accordingly, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had approved shifting of the non-troublesome tigers and tigresses to the NNTR, the forest official said.

Mungantiwar said the management has trained 400 local youths and appointed 100 “waghmitras”, who will receive Rs 2,000 as honorarium for their contribution towards tiger conservation.

With a core area of 656.36 sq km and a 1241.24 sq km buffer area, NNTR is the 46th tiger reserve in the country and fifth in the state.

As a part of the conservation translocation of tigers programme, the translocation of five big cats is proposed in NNTR and of them two were released on Saturday. The tigresses were collared with GPS devices and VHF, the official added.