Bhopal, Sep 25 (Inditop.com) Two tigresses in the Panna national park in Madhya Pradesh, earlier slated to get a male companion Friday, will now have to wait at least for another four weeks as the tiger identified for relocation turned out to be from the same gene pool to which one of the tigresses belongs, a forest department official said.
“Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientist Dr Ramesh, who is at Bandhavgarh, objected to the identified tiger being relocated after it was found to be from the same gene pool as a tigress already at Panna,” said a forest department official, who did not wish to be named.
Scientists have now asked WII whether it would adversely impact the offspring in case the tiger and tigress mate, said the official.
The central government had cleared the proposal of the Madhya Pradesh administration to shift the male tiger to the Panna sanctuary from Bandhavgarh in June maintaining that accountability would be fixed for the disappearance of the big cats from the reserve.
“The department would go ahead with translocation of the identified tiger only if the WII suggests that the adverse impact would not be very substantial otherwise they would have to look for another tiger which would take some time. Studying the DNA profile of the tiger and tigress would take at least three to four weeks,” he said.
“Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, while giving his nod to the proposal to translocate the big cat with an aim to repopulate the endangered species in Panna, has asked the state government to strictly adhere to the tiger relocation protocol framed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) while executing the project,” sources said.
The department wants DNA tests to be conducted to abide by the NTCA approved protocol for relocation of tigers from one habitat to another that includes choosing specimens from different landscapes to avoid a situation of inbreeding that may lead to biological problems among the offspring, the official said.
The samples, a forest department source said, has already been dispatched to WII and the report is expected to be received in a month’s time.
This will be the third Royal Bengal tiger to be relocated to Panna which once boasted of at least 30 of the big cats but lost them all.
“The preparations for relocating the male tiger from the Bandhavgarh National Park were complete. We were just waiting for the green signal from the expert team from WII which is here to identify the male tiger and help shift it to Panna,” said R.S. Negi, Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden.
“Scientists from the WII and veterinarians who reached Bandhavgarh Wednesday to tranquilize and shift the tiger to Panna are, however, still camping there.”
The park, which once had more than 30 tigers, was found to be devoid of the striped animal when a central government team visited the park early this year.
