RANCHI: Much to the satisfaction of the forest officials, as many as two tigers were spotted within a month in Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR).
Interestingly, this is the third tiger spotted in PTR this year itself; it was first spotted directly by the officials in March this year after a period of three long years.
Notably, according to the report on the Status of Tigers in India, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, there were no tigers in PTR.
The Palamu Tiger Reserve, which is spread over an area of about 1,230 sq km, was made a tiger reserve in 1973 and had a good number of the animal, which came down to three in the 2014 census and zero in the latest report.
According to the PTR Director, the tiger has migrated from the bordering areas of Chhattisgarh, which has less forest cover as compared to the PTR in Jharkhand. He attributed suitable atmosphere for tigers in PTR which has started attracting tiger to migrate this side from other places.
The PTR Director said that it is really encouraging that three tigers were spotted within a year. “The first one was spotted in November first week and the second one was spotted recently 2-3 days back. With this, three tigers were spotted in camera traps in this year, all are males,” said PTR Director Kumar Ashutosh.
Besides that, pug marks, scat and tiger kill has also been recovered from different places in PTR, he added. Ashuotsh said that the photographs of camera traps and locations are not being shared due to security reasons.
According to PTR Director, the tigers might have migrated to Jharkhand in search of prey base or looking for a new territory as they prefer living in their own territory away from their parents after they grow up.
“PTR being number one in terms of habitat, all efforts are being made to retain these tigers in Jharkhand as the ground work has already been done by improving the pray base in PTR,” said the Director.
Four soft release centers have also been set up in PTR where Cheetal will be shifted very soon to increase the prey base for tiger, he added.
The soft release centres are those where animals are placed in pre-release cages. After some time, the animals are allowed to go out, but they have the option of returning to the cage for shelter, water and food.
The PTR director said grasslands are also being developed to arrange ample food for the deer brought from Betla forest, besides the construction of few check dams to provide water for the animals.
Notably, according to the 2006 census, there were 10 tigers in Jharkhand in 2010, which came down to three in 2014 and the latest report brings the total number of the big vats to five.
