On March 23, 2021 tigress Sundari returned its home Bandhavgarh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh after spending 8 months in captivity in Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha.
- Sundari was shifted to Satkosia Tiger Reserve as part of India’s first inter-state translocation project in 2018 from MP to Odisha, however the plan has failed.
- The reason behind relocation was to serve two purposes — reducing tiger population in areas with excess tigers to majorly reduce territorial disputes, and to reintroduce tigers in areas where the population has considerably reduced due to various reasons.
- However, villagers and tribals living around the Satkosia area, started protesting against translocation. Tribals from Raigoda in the core area to Saruali on the outskirts of the reserve were displaced The villagers feared the tigers would endanger their livelihoods, lives and livestocks. They also alleged that they were not consulted or informed prior to the translocation.
- As per some experts, the major reason which contributed to the failure of the project was the lack of confidence and trust building between the forest department and the villagers.
- The Satkosia Tiger Reserve spreads across four districts encompassing an area of 963.87 sq km. Its core area 523 sq km.
- It was declared as a Tiger Reserve in 2007. It had a population of 12 tigers then. The numbers reduced to two in 2018.
(Source: India Express)
