28-Jan-2019: Elephants to patrol Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve
Patrolling in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve is set to be strengthened as two trained elephants would be deployed there shortly. Trained elephants will help ground-level forest guards patrol deep in the forest where jeeps cannot go. The two elephants are being brought from the Similipal Tiger Reserve.
The tiger reintroduction programme in STR had run into rough weather following the death of India’s first inter-State translocated tiger last year. The Odisha government had planned to bring six tigers (three male and three female) from Madhya Pradesh to increase the feline population in Satkosia. Last year, one pair of big cats was brought to Satkosia.
However, the programme did not go as per plan. While the tiger T1 reportedly died after falling into a poaching trap, there was huge discontentment among villagers residing in the buffer areas over the frequent straying of the tigress into human habitation. As the situation went out of control following a human kill, the tigress was captured. Subsequently, the programme was put on hold.
15-Nov-2018: Tiger reintroduction in Odisha’s Satkosia put on hold
The ambitious tiger re-introduction in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) has been put on hold following death of a tiger, which was trans-located from Kanha Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. The tiger MB-2 as it was named in Kanha was found dead inside Satkosia.
Satkosia that spreads along gorge over Mahanadi River in Odisha was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1976. The area was declared as Satkosia Tiger Reserve in 2007, comprising of two adjoining wildlife sanctuaries – the Satkosia Gorge sanctuary and Baisipalli sanctuary. The Reserve is spread over four districts such as Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Boudh.
The STR once boasted of having over 10 tigers. Odisha government had chalked out a tiger re-introduction programme in the STR where the big cat population had dwindled due to several reasons including anthropogenic interference and poor prey base.
Under the project approved by NTCA, three pairs of tigers were to be trans-located from Madhya Pradesh. The three-year-old MB-2 was transferred to Satkosia on June 21 last. It was the first ever interstate tiger translocation in India.
Subsequently, Sundari, a tigress, was trans-located from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. Following two incidences of alleged human maulings by Sundari, villagers living in and around the Satkosia got angry.
Moreover, the tigress used to stray into human habitation repeatedly which became untenable for the wildlife wing of State forest department to allow Sundari roam free. A decision was taken to recapture the tigress. The animal was successfully tranquilized in the first week of this month. It has since been kept in special enclosure put up inside Satkosia. The fate of tigress is not known as the NTCA and the State government is evaluating the pros & cons of shifting Sundari out of Satkosia.
24-Jan-2019: Night traffic ban on National Highway 766
The differences of opinion between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways over the proposal to construct elevated roads through sections of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve have given a sliver of hope to the State government to tackle the night traffic ban on National Highway 766.
The contention between the two Central Ministries on the issue, in which Kerala and Karnataka have stakes, had led the Supreme Court to ask the Centre to arrive at a consensus within six weeks. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has not concurred with the project for an elevated 5-km road over Bandipur while the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is willing to construct five elevated sections, of which four will be in Bandipur and one in Wayanad.
Now, the five-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court would have to intervene in an effort to secure a joint statement of the two Ministries before the apex court.
The nine-year-old ban on traffic through Bandipur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. is getting more complicated with the increase in vehicles plying via the highway connecting Kozhikode to Mysuru during daytime. The State government has already agreed to share equally the tentative cost of construction of the elevated sections which has been pegged at ₹458 crore. Besides, MoRTH has agreed to share the remaining 50% of the expenditure.
Biofencing: Canopy bridges and biofencing would be adopted without disturbing the ecosystem. Further, the Forest Department would provide land in exchange for the land reconverted into forest for the length of 5 km under the elevated sections.
About 35 km of the 272-km highway passes through Bandipur and the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary in Kerala.