BHOPAL: Six tigers from Madhya Pradesh will be relocated to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha next month. With just one pair of tigers left, Satkosia is on the brink of losing its coveted tag, said an official of National Tiger Conservation Authority NTCA ).Two young tigers each from Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Panna tiger reserves in MP will get a new home. They have all been identified as ‘dispersing tigers’ — those that frequently leave the limits of the sanctuary to seek new territory. Many sanctuaries in MP are said to have reached saturation point in terms of prey base and space for these highly territorial animals.“Earlier, there were plans to relocate tigers from Tadoba national park in Maharashtra but those in MP were found to be closest in terms of genetic type,” an NTCA official said. Asked if this would solve the problem of tigers straying from parks, leading to man-animal conflict, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Jitendra Agrawal said: “No”.“Young dispersing tigers will be relocated not to solve our problem but to solve the problem of Odisha, as tigers were decimated there and they do not have sufficient population of the big cats,” Agrawal said, adding: “Dispersing animals will be picked up because they have yet to carve out their territory and they are young and will have a longer lifespan in the Odisha jungle. A tiger with established territory has already lived half its life.”At any point of time, there are 70 to 80 tiger cubs in MP, Agrawal said. “They either fight to create territory or move out. And when they step out, they either kill an animal or are themselves killed,” he said.There are strict rules for relocation of animals, especially endangered species like tiger. “The SOP helps decide which landscape you can pick up tigers. In Satkosia, we have good tiger habitat and prey base but insufficient tigers. The SOP tells us that we can pick up tigers from Bandhavgarh since they have similar genetic type,” he said.Earlier this week, a tigress was relocated from Panna to Sanjay Dubri National Park in MP’s Sidhi district. This tigress was straying near villages in Amanganj, raising the risk of confrontation. Panna MLA Kusum Mehdele, who is a minister, had raised the issue of this tigress and the need to solve “tiger dispersal problem” at a cabinet meeting in January this year.

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