By IANS,
Jaipur: Two tigresses will soon be relocated from Ranthambore National Park to the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
The state government has identified two young tigresses of Ranthambore National Park for relocation to Sariska after getting a nod from the Nation Tiger Conservation Authority (NCTA), officials said Saturday.
Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district, around 150 km from here, is home to seven tigers including two cubs.
The shifting of the tigresses will bring the number to nine, they added.
A senior forest department officer told IANS: “The proposal to shift the tigeresses to Sariska from Ranthambore was pending for a long time. The NTCA has finally given its nod. The preparations for the relocation have already begun.”
“The tigresses have been identified for shifting to Sariska from Ranthambore National Park in Sawaimadhopur district”, he said.
“Both are about two-year old. We are setting up separate enclosures for them in Sariska,” the officer added.
The number of tigers has increased to 52, including 26 cubs, in Ranthambore. Four tigers have been killed in territorial fights over the past four years in the park, leaving environmentalists worried that as the tiger population increases, there is also need to create a habitat in which they can thrive.
The officer said that security by armed home guard personnel will be stepped up to ensure safety of the tigers in Sariska Tiger reserve after the relocation.
Two cubs had been spotted in Sariska in Sep last year. Before sighting of the two cubs, the Sariska reserve had five adult tigers, of which three are females and two males.
In 2004-05, the forest department and the Rajasthan government faced all-round criticism over the disappearance of tigers from Sariska.
The Sariska reserve, originally a hunting preserve of the erstwhile princely state of Alwar, was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. It got the status of a national park in 1979.