Tiger Reserves

JAIPUR: The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has shot down the proposal from the state forest and wildlife department for the translocation of one sub adult male tiger from the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve to Sariska Tiger reserve.
In his reply to the proposal from the principal chief conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden Dr G V Reddy to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), director of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dr B V Mathur said the need of the hour is transfer of one adult tiger of a different genetic pool to Sarika to sustain the tiger population and not a sub adult as proposed by the wildlife department.
He pointed out that the animal identified for translocation from Ranthambore to Sariska is a sub adult , and tigres in thsi age group are already present at Sariska reserve. But an adult in the age group of 4-7 years is not in Sariska now.
At present, there are 14 tigers in the Sariska Tiger Reserve of which four are male and nine females and one unsexed tiger cub ST-15 (below one year). Among the males, ST-6 and ST-4 are in the age group of 7 to 10 years while the remaining two, ST -11 and ST-13 are sub adults (1 to 3 years).
In the age group of tigress, there are two tigress in the 1 to 3 year age group (ST 12, ST-14), four in four to seven age group (ST-7, ST-8, ST-9, and ST-10) and two in seven to ten age group (ST-3, ST-5) and one above 10 (ST-2).
He pointed out that "to build up population to a sustainable level it would be worth to translocate an adult male that is genetically distinct from the Sariska population instead of the sub adult as this age class is already represented in Sariska." He said it is important that genetic configuration of tiger should be given priority for future translocation instead of conflict mitigation. These tigers have occupied about 800 sq. km of the area in the tiger reserve. He said, "As per the population viability analysis carried out based on the present population of tigers in Sariska, it is necessary to supplement one adult male and adult female every three to five years for next 15 to 20 years to rule out possibility of extinction of the tiger population there.