The Maharashtra forest department is gearing up for translocation of a few tigers from the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur to Sahyadri, the lone tiger reserve in the state’s western region.
The Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) is one of only five tiger reserves in the country — Kaval in Telangana, Kamlang in Arunachal Pradesh,Dampa in Mizoram and Satkosia in Odisha being the other four — with zero tigers within the reserve and the translocation is part of a long-term plan to revive the population of the big cats in the northern Western Ghats forests.
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STR straddles Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Ratnagiri districts in western Maharashtra. Spread over 1,165 sq km, the reserve was notified in 2010 by amalgamating the Chandoli national park and Koyna wildlife sanctuary.
The Maharashtra forest department is awaiting the final go-ahead from the Union Environment Ministry to tranquilise the tigers in TATR for the translocation process, senior officials said.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had cleared the translocation plan in October 2023. In the initial phase, a male tiger or a pair of male and female tigers would be translocated from TATR to STR.
“Once we have the permission to tranquilise the tigers under Section 12 of the Wildlife Protection Act, we will go ahead with the field work. We have created a special vehicle to transport the big cats. The vehicle will be fitted with misting provisions,” said Maheep Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Maharashtra forest department.
The translocation project is an important step in conservation of tigers in the forests of the northern Western Ghats, which form a key wildlife corridor between Maharashtra and Karnataka.
This corridor allows connectivity of tiger population in Sahyadri reserve, Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary, Amboli reserve forest, Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa and Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary and Kali tiger reserve in Karnataka, according to the government’s All India Tiger Estimation report, 2023.
During the 2022 population estimation exercise in Sahyadri, no evidence of tiger was captured on camera traps. However, in December last year a camera trap captured a tiger within the reserve limits. The previous such camera trap evidence was in 2018, according to the state forest department.
The 2023 tiger population estimation report also highlighted the threats posed to the wildlife corridor between the STR and Karnataka’s forests from mining activities, road projects and human settlements.
The translocation of tigers from TATR will be followed by their translocation from the Pench Tiger Reserve landscape, which is spread over Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In all, the plan involves translocation of eight tigers — three males and five females.
The translocation is part of the phase-II of the tiger recovery project; phase-I involves preparing the habitat for the big cats’ reintroduction, augmentation of prey, improving forest protection and building of a temporary enclosure for their soft release.
“There will be a soft release, which involves keeping the tiger in an enclosure, and it would be monitored closely before releasing it in the tiger reserve’s habitat,” said K Ramesh, senior scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, who is providing technical support to the Maharashtra forest department.
The forest department began augmenting the prey base from December 2021. Chital and Sambar deer were brought in from Katraj zoo and released in STR forests. Ramesh said based on prey base studies, the reserve can sustain a population of 10-12 tigers, which, he added, was a conservative figure.
“Translocation is not a one-time action but a long-term process. We have to also focus on conservation of the entire landscape to sustain the population in the long-term,” he said.
