By SANTOSH MOHANTY
Environmentalists have demanded that the status of Tiger Reserve given to Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary be scrapped immediately as the lone tigress has either been killed or died due to illness.
The tigress was not found in the surveillance cameras fitted in dense forest locality in the sanctuary since November 23 last year. While officials of Angul Wildlife Division maintained that the female RBT is alive and moving all around the jungle, they however have failed to answer why the powerful camera lenses could not capture its image nearly two months after it has gone missing.
The wildlife officials including Divisional Forest Officer(DFO) have been stressing that there is every possibility that the maimed tigress might have taken shelter under bushes in the interior jungle pockets in the sanctuary for which it has remained out of camera range. They said efforts are on to find out the tigress as forest staff has fanned out to possible hideouts where the big cat might be resting due to illness.
Environmentalists alleged that officials of wildlife forest division in Angul were never concerned about the wellbeing of the lone tigress moving in and around the sanctuary for quite some years. They further alleged that the Government of India has been pouring huge sum amounting to crores of rupees for ensuring safe habitat for RBTs in Satkosia after it was declared a Tiger Reserve 14 years ago, but precious little has been done in this regard. The environmentalists leveled severe allegation that the earmarked sum for conservation of tigers was squandered away and misappropriated.
Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district is spread over 795 sq km and was bustling with 18 RBTs in 2004. But, the tiger census conducted in 2018 confirmed that only one tigress was surviving. Nature lovers at Tainsi, Purunakote and other areas in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary have been alleging that the forest officials never initiated efforts to identify the reason behind the animal's illness and did not try to attend to the ailing animal by qualified Vets.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had twice tried to relocate two RBTs, Mahavir and Sundari, in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in 2018 for conservation of big cats, but it was not successful due to several factors. While Mahavir, which was brought from Kanha national park died, Sundari was relocated back to its parent location at Bandhavgarh as it turned man eater. A team from Madhya Pradesh tranquilized Sundari at Purunakote forest after a number of attempts to tame it.
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