No decision yet on Satkosia Tigress Sundari

Bhubaneswar, Dec 3 : The Odisha Forest Department and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) are yet to take any decision on the Royal Bengal tigress Sundari, who has been kept in an enclosure at Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district for almost a month now after her capture.

The tigress was tranquilised and captured after allegedly mauling a woman of Hatibari village on September 12 and later a man of Tainsi village on October 27.

The tigress was released into the wild on August 18.

The tigress had spread panic in the area, pouncing on livestock and attacking people.

It is not yet clear whether Sundari would be released into wild of Satkosia again or taken back to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh from where she was brought on June 29.

However, NTCA had announced that Sundari shall be released in the wild again to make the inter-state tiger translocation project successful and install more than 200 CCTV cameras in the core area of the sanctuary to monitor her movement.

Wildlife experts are of the opinion that the tigress, which was meant to be released in the wild, should be released as early as possible and not kept in any enclosure.