Indian ‘problem’ tiger now safe in national park

From Big News Network (IANS), Monday 1st April, 2013:

‘Rescued’ tiger survives 1,000 days in Assam‘s Manas

An adult male tiger, which was rescued from a human-wildlife conflict situation and released in the wild more than three years ago, was recently sighted in the Manas National Park, wildlife activists said Monday.

The development has elated particularly the wildlife lovers and conservationists in Assam at a time when the tiger population is estimated to be less than 2,000 across the country.

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) executive director Vivek Menon said the adult male tiger was rescued from Geleki area in Assam’s Sivsagar district March 2010 after reports of human-tiger conflicts from the area leading to death of two people

“Analyzing the situation in this case – particularly after the tiger’s capture, the authorities found the attacks on people to be purely accidental, and decided to release it. The Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) administration, under which the Manas National Park falls, granted permission for its release in the park.

“The tiger was radio-collared and released on April 1 the same year,” he said while adding that the tiger was recently photographed in the camera traps set for tiger monitoring in Manas, 1,095 days after it was released.

“The new photograph showed that the tiger’s collar has dropped off. With the amount of time it has spent without reports of conflict involving it, we can now be satisfied that this tiger has established itself here. Its reproductive success in Manas will contribute to tiger conservation in this (Manas-Bhutan) landscape,” said WTI’s northeast region head Bhaskar Choudhury.

“This success has shown that conflict animals can be rehabilitated successfully with meticulous planning and scientific monitoring,” he said.

This is the second indirect sighting of the tiger. It was first photographed in February 2011, when it was with its collar, the WTI officials said.

See also here.

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