Tigress Sundari to be released into Odisha’s Satkosia reserve again

Angul: The Royal Bengal tigress Sundari, which is currently kept in a special enclosure after she killed two people, will be released into the wild of Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary for the second time in Odisha’s Angul district.

The State Forest Department has started the process to release the big cat into the wild after it was kept in the enclosure for over two months.

The move was taken following the directive of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

The Forest Department has roped in some Kumki (trained) elephants to keep an eye on the movement of the tigress in the Satkosia reserve.

On Tuesday, a trained (Kumki) female elephant Yashoda from Godibari area in the Chandaka sanctuary, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, was shifted to Satkosia in a truck, said a senior Forest Department official said.

Sundari will be released from the enclosure into the wild after few more Kumki elephants reached Satkosia sanctuary, he added.

Notably, after more than a fortnight of intense chase, experts on November 6 managed to tranquilise Sundari, following residents nearby the Satkosia reserve resorted to arson demanding the capture of the big cat.

Sundari, a two-and-a-half-year-old Royal Bengal tigress, was brought from Bandhavgarh in June last year in a first-of-its-kind inter-state transfer project to increase Odisha’s tiger population. She was then released into the Satkosia reserve.

The relocation project is a joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Wildlife Institute of India and the NTCA.

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