CZA against tigress ‘Sundari’ kept in Nandankanan

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: With the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) making its stand clear that Royal Bengal tigress Sundari cannot be kept inside an enclosure in Nandankanan Zoological Park, problem has mounted for Forest and Environment Department of the Odisha government

The CZA, in a communication to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Sandip Tripathy on Thursday, has said that a wild animal brought from its natural habitat cannot be kept inside a zoo.

According to the rules, the purpose of keeping wild animals in the zoo was to raise their population, he wrote adding, since the Odisha Forest Department had brought the Bengal tigress from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh under the inter-state relocation scheme, she has to be released into the sanctuary.

Notably, the PCCF had earlier said that a high-level committee comprising experts from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the State Forest and Environment Department will observe the behaviour of the tigress inside the enclosure at Raiguda for three days and then take a decision on its relocation.