A 3-year-old tigress, higher often known as ‘cub of Avni’, succumbed to her accidents on Saturday, days after a territorial conflict with one other tigress.
The tigress, PTRF_84, was injured shortly after being launched into the wild from an enclosure in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR). She was captured in December 2018 from Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district after her mom T1, popularly often known as Avni, was shot useless in November that 12 months after being declared man-eater. She was then dropped at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Nagpur district, the place she was stored in a 5.44 hectare enclosure for “rewilding”.
After two years of rewilding, during which she was skilled to hunt her pure prey, the authorities had determined to launch her into the wild.
Within a few days after her launch, she clashed with one other tigress, believed to be the resident of the world, and acquired accidents to her entrance limb and chest.
“She was being treated inside a treatment cage in the enclosure at Titralmangi and was being monitored and treated daily by the veterinary officers. On Saturday evening it was found that her health was deteriorating. Veterinary team advised to shift her to Gorewada Rescue Centre in Nagpur. Immediately preparations were made. She, however, succumbed to her injuries around 10 PM. The veterinary team tried it’s best to provide emergency treatment,” a press notice issued by PTR Field Director Ravikiran Govekar mentioned.
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Govekar instructed The Indian Express, “the injuries didn’t seem fatal but probably she had internal injuries, which will be confirmed after post-mortem.”
Incidentally, the tigress had injured her paw final December whereas within the enclosure. Authorities had mentioned it might be because of a skirmish with one other tiger which can have charged at her from exterior the enclosure. There is theory that the identical tigress was concerned within the newest territorial conflict.
When the Forest Department authorities had determined to launch the tigress into the wild, after consulting with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), that they had explored three areas— Gadchiroli, Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) and PTR. After initially leaning in direction of NNTR because of its sparse tiger inhabitants, that they had settled upon PTR for its higher prey base and tigress’ familiarity with the world.
Another suggestion was to launch her into the Dnyanganga Wildlife Sanctuary in Buldana district, the place one other Pandharkawada tiger, Walker, had made its dwelling after a record-breaking journey of over 3,000 km. This would have ensured a mate for Walker and eradicated the prospect of territorial conflict since Walker was the primary ever tiger to stroll into Dnyanganga.
The authorities, nonetheless, determined in opposition to it since each Walker and the tigress belonged to the identical gene pool of Pandharkawada. They additionally needed to stop inbreeding amongst their progeny as a result of Dynanganga in its current type is like an island.
Asked if NNTR or Dnyanganga may have higher possibility to decide on as that they had lesser likelihood of a territorial conflict, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Nitin Kakodkar mentioned, “We had deliberated all the options threadbare and had finally settled for PTR as it provided ample preybase and much better monitoring as the staff had been taking care of the tigress for over two years.”
Asked if the expertise may go away a unfavorable impression on any rewilding experiment sooner or later, Kakodkar mentioned, “I don’t think so. This is a learning process and we have to always make amends to make it more foolproof in future. Else, every captured tiger would end up in a cage or in safaris.”
Meanwhile, Walker, that had stayed on in Dnyanganga for over a 12 months after ceaselessly wandering over a number of districts, has not been noticed for a couple of month and a half.
