Tigress Jamuna Released into the Wild at Odisha's Similipal Tiger Reserve

Baripa: On Saturday, authorities at Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) released 'Jamuna', a Royal Bengal Tigress brought from Toba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra , back into wild from her soft enclosure.

tigress has w settled in core area of STR and is being closely monitored by a trained team, senior official said.

"For first time we have a tiger supplementation anywhere in world to enhance gene pool of tigers," Odisha 's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Susanta Nanda, posted pictures and videos of tigress being released into wild on X, while wished for success of program.

two-and-a-half-year-old tigress, named Jamuna, h been kept in a soft enclosure at STR since her arrival from Maharashtra on October 27. She was brought to reserve as part of a translocation project aimed at preventing inbreeding and improving gene pool of tigers in reserve, where 50 percent of population is melanistic.

Meanwhile, wildlife wing of Forest Department has also reached Toba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra to bring ar tigress.

At present, Odisha has 30 tigers, of which 27 tigers are found in STR. Though STR has a unique population of melanistic tigers, in-breeding among closed population has emerged as a looming threat to striped predators in protected area. So authority has decided to bring tigers from Maharashtra, y said.

Earlier, state's effort to translocation of tiger from Mhya Presh "failed" due to protests by villrs living on fringes of Satkosia Tiger Reserve, where one male tiger 'Mahavir' and a tigress 'Sundari' from Kanha Tiger Reserve and Bandhavgarh respectively were introduced in 2018.

While Mahavir was found de, Sundari was sent back to its original habitat in 2021 after it allegedly killed two persons.

(with ncy inputs)