Tigress in Rajaji Tiger Reserve gives birth to 4 cubs
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 25 May: In an encouraging development, a tigress which was amongst 5 tigers which had been translocated from Corbett Tiger Reserve to Rajaji National Park (now called Rajaji Tiger Reserve) has given birth to four cubs. Sharing this news with Garhwal Post, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal today described the development as highly encouraging. He added that this indicates that the translocation scheme of tigers from Corbett Tiger Reserve to Rajaji has been successful. He reminded that Corbett Tiger Reserve is overpopulated with tigers and it was keeping this in mind that translocation of certain tigers to Rajaji had been considered and done. More tigers are likely to be shifted to Rajaji.
Uniyal claimed that increased population of tigers in the Western part of Rajaji National Park will lead to greater employment opportunities to the locals here and will also increase inflow of tourists and wildlife enthusiasts to Rajaji, besides playing a crucial role towards conservation of the tigers.
Meanwhile, Chief Wildlife Warden and PCCF Dr Samir Sinha has also expressed his happiness over this development and claimed that the tigress giving birth to four cubs is very encouraging and is an indication that the experiment to translocate tigers will prove to be successful. He added that it will be the primary responsibility of the department in general and the park administration to ensure safety and protection of the mother tigress and her cubs. He claimed that a very special action plan is being prepared for this. Sinha congratulated Director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve, Dr Saket Badola and his team for this development and urged them to ensure that the mother tigress and her cubs will be under constant monitoring of the Park administration.
Rajaji National Park management is also very excited with this development. The Park administration has expressed hope that increasing number of tigers will raise the tiger tourism to the park by attracting more tourists here in near future. This will not only promote environmental protection but will also benefit the local economy.
After this success, Rajaji Tiger Reserve can now become a source of inspiration for other tiger conservation projects as well. Such an increase in the number of tigers clearly shows that with proper planning and efforts, significant progress can be achieved in wildlife conservation.
It may be recalled that this tigress was translocated from Corbett Tiger Reserve, along with which three other tigresses and a tiger were also brought. The main objective of this initiative was to increase the number of tigers in the western part of Rajaji which borders Corbett National Park.
This event is proving to be an important milestone in achieving the objectives of tiger translocation. However, here it also needs to be reminded that one tiger which had been recently caught from Corbett Tiger Reserve could not be translocated to Rajaji as it died during medical treatment.
