Panna Tiger Reserve and WII tags young tigress with radio collar to study human-tiger interaction

Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve that was recently declared as a UNESCO site after its successful tiger re-introduction programme that took the tiger count from zero to 52 in 10 years, has recently radio-collared a young tigress with GPS-Satellite collar to help them learn more about human-tiger interaction and the corridor in the landscape. The news was shared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Conservation on its official Twitter handle.

UNESCO designates Biosphere Reserves to serve as a lab to test innovative approaches to eco-conservation, resolve man-animal conflict and enable sustainable use of resources. For all practical purposes, the reserves remain under the protection of the local forest authorities. This year Panna Tiger Reserve attained the status from India.

Last year in March, Panna reserve officials after several failed attempts fitted a radio collar on a tigress that had been eluding forest officials for days after its old collar fitted in 2014 had to be removed because it emitted weak signals.

Panna tiger reserve is making every possible effort to get back its stripes. In early 2009, the most popular tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh lost all its tiger to road accidents, poaching and other illegal activities. After a major-tiger-re-introduction programme in which tigers from neighbouring reserves like Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench after being radio-collared, ten years later the tiger population grew to 40 adult tigers and a dozen of cubs. Panna tiger reserve tigers are also populating Sanjay National Park and Uttar Pradesh forests as well.

Meanwhile, vulture tagging started in the tiger reserve in November itself after the data generated out of studying movement, habits, eating and breeding patterns will help in developing a concrete management plan for the conservation of the threatened species by the wildlife conservationists. A trained team from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun has been radio-tagging the scavenger birds.