Bhubaneswar, April 22: The male tiger which has come to the state after traversing over 1,000 km from the Central India landscape has been sighted in the close vicinity of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), senior forest official from the STR confirmed on Sunday.
It is the same Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) that had been first camera-trapped in Bonai forest division of Sundargarh district in March. The details of the tiger match with the National Tiger Database of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said the official.
It is confirmed that the big cat has travelled from the Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve (SDTR) in Madhya Pradesh (MP). After Bonai, the big cat has now been sighted in a forest of Keonjhar, close to Similipal. It would hardly take a day for the big cat to enter Similipal core. If it makes the reserve its home, the prospects of improving the genetic diversity in the protected area will get a huge boost, the official added.
The male tiger that travelled across three states from Central India and has been camera-trapped close to Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR). This is an exciting prospect of adding to the gene pool of the Similipal tiger landscape. It is also a sign of big cats regaining their lost homeland in the state, said PCCF (Wildlife) Susanta Nanda.
