300km epic tiger trip, & not a human touched

Pugmark of a tiger (Representative image)

P Naveen | TNN | Updated: Feb 13, 2019, 11:12 IST

BHOPAL: As Gujarat seeks to claim the unique distinction of being home to both the Asiatic Lion and tigers — or at least one tiger — wildlife officers and environmentalists in Madhya Pradesh are stunned at how the big cat crossed densely populated regions without any conflict with humans, unlike the tiger that walked in here from Maharashtra, killing two people on the way.


Initially, it was thought that the tiger that has been seen in Gujarat had moved from Melghat tiger reserve in Maharashtra. But MP forest officials confirmed it was from Ratapani sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, barely 50km from Bhopal.



“This is our tiger. We have matched the images,” said Ujjain CCF B S Annigiri. “We were tracking it till it was in our jurisdiction. Now that it has reached Gujarat, they will take care of it. After all, animals have no borders," said the officer. Camera trap images confirm that this is the same tiger that was spotted close to Nagda hills of Dewas in January 2017. It was believed to have moved from Ratapani via the forested tracts of Bagli and Udaynagar. In November the same year, the tiger was seen in Manglia (Indore) and then Barnagar in Ujjain district. There were further sightings at Petlawad (Jhabua), close to the Gujarat border after which it wasn’t detected for a long time — until the recent sighting in Boriya in Gujrat.


Throughout its journey, tiger avoided people

Throughout its 300km journey, the tiger lived and moved very close to human habitations and while its presence created some panic among villagers, it avoided people and might have survived on livestock and wild animals like wild pigs and nilgai, said officials.

Conservation professional Vaibhav Chaturvedi said, “This long-distance dispersal has revived hope for tigers in Vindhyachal landscape.” The Vindhyachal mountain range that runs for 1000km from Gujarat and across MP into Kaimur range in the East, has historically been a stronghold of tigers. 

“With focussed conservation efforts and better protection, tigers are reclaiming their lost territory across Vindhyas. There is a need to keep these forest tracts intact and monitor tiger populations and their recovery,” said Chaturvedi.

Dr Sandeep Sharma, wildlife scientist at Germany’s Gottingen University, who has done his PhD on tigers and their connectivity in central India, is excited by this tiger’s journey. “Tiger populations in central Indian reserves have recovered in the past decade and are showing signs of spillover. Some tigers have moved hundreds of kilometres from their source,” he told TOI, adding, “The astonishing journey of this tiger from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat, spanning about 300km over two years, not only proves the tenacity of tigers as a species but also highlights their survival instincts.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/300km-epic-tiger-trip-not-a-human-touched/articleshow/67969193.cms