Bhubaneswar: The Forest department has set up a special tiger protection force (STPF) to step-up safety and security of the big cats after National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved the tiger relocation project’s resumption in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
The NTCA’s nod came nearly four and a half years after the central authority suspended it.
The STPF, which consists of 30 personnel, including foresters, ex-servicemen, and forest guards, is the second force of its kind in the state. According to Chief Wildlife Warden Susanta Nanda, the team was established as part of the action plan in accordance with the NTCA rules to combat poachers.
The special force will be well-equipped and trained for round the clock patrolling. They will be involved in special operations against poachers and strengthen ground intelligence, said sources.
As part of the project, as many as 15 big cats will be relocated to Satkosia in phases in five years from Maharashtra’s Tadoba Reserve, the sources added.
In 2018, two tigers – Sundari and Mahavir – were brought to Satkosia from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh as part of the country’s first tiger translocation project. But the NTCA suspended it the following year with the death of Mahavir. Sundari was sent back to Kanha after spending 28 months in the reserve’s Raigoda enclosure.
NTCA approval for relocating tigers to Satkosia came after Odisha Government’s proposal submitted this year. An NTCA team visited Satkosia in June to evaluate the feasibility of the project.
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