MP to send experts to capture tigress Sundari in Odisha

The Madhya Pradesh government has agreed to send an experts team to capture Royal Bengal Tigress 'Sundari' in the Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha's Angul district, an official said on Thursday.

The move came after the Odisha government requested Madhya Pradesh to send an experts team to capture Sundari after its forest officials were unable to tranquilize the tigress in the wild despite several attempts.

"We have received a communique from the Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday that they would send special teams to capture the tigress in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Sandeep Tripathi told IANS.

He said the department had made a request about 2-3 days earlier to send an experts team to tranquilize and capture the tigress, who has allegedly killed two persons.

"The Madhya Pradesh government has agreed to send two specialist teams from the Kanha National Park and Pench Tiger Reserve. The teams will arrive at the Satkosia sanctuary in 2-3 days and start their operation to capture Sundari," Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sudarshan Panda told the media.

Meanwhile, three teams have been deployed to tranquilize the big cat and bring the animal inside the enclosure.

Sources said a tranquilizer shot at the tigress by the team missed the target on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, the team had kept goats in cages to attract the animal but it did not turn up.

The tigress was relocated from Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve to Satkosia wildlife sanctuary on June 28 in a pilot inter-state transfer project to increase the big cat population in the state.

However, the locals are hell-bent in their demand to shift the tigress from the forest after it killed two humans.

Sundari had allegedly mauled a man to death at Tainsi village on October 21. Earlier on September 12, it had allegedly killed a 35-year-old woman in the area.

--IANS

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