Relocation of three tigers to Mukundara Hills gets NTCA nod

Jaipur: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has given its nod for the relocation of three tigers to Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) in Rajasthan.

The relocation will take place in December after the technical committee of NTCA gave its final approval to the proposal submitted by the Rajasthan government.

The state government had sent proposal of shifting tigers to Mukundra Hills last year. The three tigers will be relocated from Ranthambore tiger reserve.

The approval was given after a visit of a team of experts from the NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to Mukundra earlier this year.

In its report, the team didn’t raise any objection as the reserve was found to be a conducive habitat for tigers with sufficient prey base. Two male tigers and one tigress will be shifted to the reserve.

The officials claimed that the relocation  was earlier scheduled for December 2018, but it has been advanced by a year for the tigers to be shifted in December 2017.

According to officials, the forest department had earlier shifted 380 cheetals and is now going to shift 100 more. Besides that 50 sambhars are going to be shifted from the army cantonment in Kota to develop a prey base in the reserve that spreads over an area of 759 sq km with 417 sq km as the core area.

Rajasthan government notified Mukundra Hills as a tiger reserve in 2013. It was the third tiger reserve. Prior to this, Ranthambore National Park (RTR) in Swai Madhopur and Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Alwar were the only two reserves in Rajasthan. The reserve was formed to cater to the spillover tiger population from RTR, which at present is reported to be around 65 tigers.

Even after being notified as a reserve, Mukundra hills is still awaiting relocation of tigers.

At present, the reserve is home to panthers, sloth bear, cheetal, sambhar, bluebulls, chinkara, wild boars, langurs, monkeys, jackal, fox and other animals.