Ranthanmbore tiger strays into Chambal

Anindo Dey, TNN 8 November 2009, 04:40am IST

JAIPUR: The rising tiger population in Ranthambore has, of late, given rise to concerns over shrinking space in the national park. Recently, one of the tigers from the forest strayed into Chambal and Banas areas, confirming this trend. Foresters fear that the tiger might have made its way to Madhya Pradesh.

Officials of state forest department, though confirmed the inciddent, could not throw light on the age or sex of the tiger. "The straying of the tiger was reported by some forest guards who had spotted it going that way. We will be checking our records to find out the details on it."

A seven member team of foresters are currently on the heels of the tiger but officials were not sure of tracking it down. "The team will try to trail it. In case they manage to spot the tiger, they will tranquilise it and brought it back to the forest area," an official said.

"This is a general phenomena and has happened due to the growing population of tigers in the reserve. But the fear is that we are not sure whether we will be able to track it down. It becomes very difficult to track them in these hilly and forested terrains. Adding to that, the straying of tigers attract the attention of poachers who often kill them before we trace them," he added.

The Ranthambore reserve, which houses 41 tigers, had seen lot of territorial fights and in some cases, deaths too. The forest department, in an attempt to make more space for the tigers, is not only shifting villages from the area but has also been translocating tigers to Sariska. Besides, nod has come for the state's third tiger project at Darrah National Park.

"Winter is mating season for tigers. This not only results in territorial fights, the weaker tigers are thrown away from their territory towards the periphery of the reserve. And it is at this point that they stray away outside the forest," said an official.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Ranthanmbore-tiger-strays-into-Chambal/articleshow/5208010.cms

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