A Bengal tigress from Maharashtra's Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve was translocated to the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj on Sunday. The tigress is about 2.5 years old. She is doing well inside the Similipal sanctuary.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wild Life) Susanta Nanda told The Telegraph, “The Bengal tigress reached the reserve on Sunday night. The tigress is released into a soft-release enclosure at 9.25 am inside the Similipal core area. The tigress is active and healthy.”

Nanda said: “There are two principles we follow while releasing animals into dense forests: hard release and soft release. In the case of hard release, the animal is directly released to the dense forest after being brought from another place. In the case of soft release, we release the animal into the dense forest after keeping it in an enclosure for a few days.”

He said: “The tigress is now in the enclosure, and after a few days of conditioning, it will be released into the dense forest inside the core areas. All arrangements for the safety of the big cat have been made.”

The officials of the Similipal Tiger Reserve said: “One tigress aged 2.5 years was captured in Tadoba on Saturday at 9 am and was brought to Similipal Tiger Reserve by road.”

Sources said two places in the core area of the Similipal —Yamuna in Jenabil and Chaala — have been identified for the tiger. Before being released into the dense forest, the tiger will be conditioned in the special enclosure made for it, and her health condition will also be monitored.

Once the tigress is conditioned by the local climate, it will be released into the wild. However, the forest department plans to tie a radio collar to its neck before releasing it into the core area.

However, former honorary wildlife warden Bhanu Mitra Acharya was apprehensive about the translocation programme’s success. “We had earlier experimented, but the first-ever inter-state tiger relocation programme in the country was failed. Let’s hope it will be successful,” Acharya told this newspaper.

In 2018, under the inter-state tiger relocation programme, one male tiger and another tigress were relocated from Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul district. The male tiger T1-known as Kanha, above three years of age, was released in Satkosia reserve on July 6, 2018, and the female T2 Sundari, three years old was released on August 17, 2018.

However, the male tiger was found dead on October 14, 2018. The preliminary investigation indicated that the death of the male tiger happened due to poaching.

Sundari was brought to the enclosure on November 6, 2018. The tigress allegedly mauled two persons inside the sanctuary. Later it was sent back to Madhya Pradesh in March 2021.

Nanda tweeted, “A long journey of 900kms but it hardly took anytime for ‘Jamuna’, the tigress brought from TATR to find its foot. For enhancing the genetic diversity of the Similipal Tigers, it is anticipated to play a key role. It’s doing fine in its soft enclosure.”