Uttar Pradesh: Tiger released in wild, GPS collar to help track its movement

A young male tiger captured after having killed a woman from a village adjoining Pilibhit Tiger Reserve was successfully released back into the wild on Friday morning by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department after it was fitted with a GPS-based satellite collar to track its movement.

It was on March 5 that the tiger was successfully tranquilised and captured by the forest department after local villagers held protests following the death of the 22-year-old Girija Devi who was working in the sugarcane fields of her village in the Madhotanda area of Puranpur tehsil, adjoining the Mala Range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. As per locals this was the third such death this year.

“Since the tiger had no injuries or deformities it was an ideal candidate for rehabilitation into the wild. A GPS-based satellite collar has been fitted to monitor its post-release movement,” said Dr Reetika Maheshwary, Wildlife Veterinarian with the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in the area who also helped tranquilise the tiger.

Sunil Chaudhary, Field Director of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve said that the rehabilitation of this young male tiger was meticulously planned in keeping with established protocols and guidelines, and smoothly conducted in a joint operation by the forest department, WTI and WWF-India. “The tiger will be intensively monitored on the ground by frontline forest staff, WWF-India and WTI over the next 15-20 days, following which its movement will be tracked through the satellite collar”, he said.

Wildlife experts emphasised that with conflict between humans and big cats escalating across India it was extremely crucial for Forest department to properly carry out detailed medical investigations of such tigers, which are found involved in a conflict situation with help of experts and trained wildlife Vets. Also once its clear that the animal does not have any issues, which suggests that it might not have killed humans with an intent the big cats should be immediately released back into their natural habitat.

Dr Mayukh Chatterjee, Head of WTI’s Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation division shared that another tiger that was involved in conflict situation was similarly captured and released back into the wild in April 2012 by the forest department and WTI, which was the first such effort in the Terai region. “It was monitored for over two years and remained within the confines of Dudhwa, not venturing out again. The relocation was a major success, proving that conflict tigers could indeed be rehabilitated into the wild,” he said adding that tiger, however had preyed on livestock and it had not attacked humans despite travelling all the way to the outskirts of Lucknow city from the forests of Pilibhit

Meanwhile expressing his relief at this Tiger getting a second chance Mahaveer Koujalagi, Deputy Director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve said that the release of this tiger like the previous one in 2012 was a major milestone in tiger conservation in the Terai region. “Its rare for such tigers to get a second chance at life in the wild. The data we receive from the satellite collar will also help us gain vital insight into the movement and habitat utilisation patterns of such tigers,” he informed.