While I was travelling in Madhya Pradesh in the last few weeks, the local forest department officials were worried and sleepless about a tiger that had gone missing from Panna Tiger Reserve.
Panna National Park had become completely devoid of tigers, with the last of the tigers spotted sometime in the middle of this year. The state forest department decided to relocate a few tigers from adjacent national parks to populate the empty reserve. Three tigers were relocated, of which two of them formed their new territories in the reserve. However, one of the tigers which could not accustom to the new location escaped from the park and slowly made its way back.
This tiger was reported missing from Panna a month ago. It was collared, but the undulating landscapes made the signals weaker and tracing the tiger was becoming difficult. However, the forest department and the Wildlife Institute of India managed to keep track of the tiger as it moved slowly towards west from Panna. A week ago, the news finally came of the tiger having returned to Pench and re-establishing itself in its old territory!
The story of this tiger came to a good end. However, it still leaves the local forest department and the scientists in a fix. This tiger was brought to Panna to mate with other two tigresses relocated to the park. It needs to be seen if the forest department will try again to shift a tiger to Panna.