Bhubaneswar: The wildlife campaigners have alleged that the wildlife wing of the state forest department overlooked a crucial aspect of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) laid down by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) - elephant-mount monitoring while releasing relocated tigers in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve A kunki elephant was roped in from Chandaka wildlife sanctuary only when was it time to tranquilize tigress Sundari. The department had not brought in an elephant during the translocation itself even though, seven days after bringing MB2 from Madhya Pradesh, efforts were made to bring one from Similipal Tiger Reserve. Locals' protests led to to the plan being shelved, leaving only radio and satellite collars as tools with which the tigers could have been tracked.Although the autopsy report is yet to be made available, experts feel that will better monitoring, MB2's life could have been saved. A snare is believed to have caused the deep injury that killed the male tiger.Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of Wildlife Society of Odisha said elephant-mount patrolling is an essential part of the SOP. "Elephant patrolling could have helped the department get direct sighting of the animal. In case of duress, immediate intervention could have been made," he said.In other sanctuaries, elephant monitoring is a regular affair, he added.Earlier, the NTCA had forewarned the state government and the state chief wildlife warden that translocation of tigers should be avoided in peak of summer and during monsoon as it poses a challenge to post-release monitoring due to growth of foliage and limited access to the forest.

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