Tiger Sultan arrives at SGNP after a 48-hour long journey from Nagpur

Sultan arrived at Sanjay Gandhi National Park after a 48-hour long journey from Nagpur

Sultan-the captive tiger from Gorewada Zoo in Nagpur finally reached Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai after a 48-hour long journey on the wee hours of Thursday.

Confirming the development, Range Forest Officer and Superintendent of the Tiger and Lion Safari at SGNP, Vijay Barabde said, "Tiger (Cl) named Sultan approximately 5 years-old male was transferred from Gorewada (Nagpur ) Rescue Centre to SGNP Zoo on December 26, 2019. The 800 km journey was covered from December 24 to December 26, 2019. The team took breaks at different places to give rest to the tiger. The animal was fed with chicken diet during the travel and water was made available at all times. The specialised SGNP Rescue van was used for the transport of the tiger."

The tiger has been brought to SGNP to breed the three tigresses (Bijlee 9, Mastani 9, Laxmi 10). The breeding program will be undertaken at a later stage, once (Cl) settles down in the new place. The transport was done by the SGNP rescue team under the guidance of RFO Barabde, Dr. Shailesh Pethe, Veterinary Officer of SGNP.

Sultan has been brought to SGNP to breed the three tigresses

Talking to mid-day Dr. Shailesh Pethe said, "At present Sultan has been kept at the Tiger Cages in SGNP. It is worth mentioning here that from the stage of transferring the tiger from its place of abode in Nagpur to the cage, or during travel to finally shifting it to its new place in SGNP, the animal was not tranquilized, hence saving it from further stress."

SGNP is one of the highest visited national parks in the country and has a captive tiger and lion safari which is famous among the visitors. Tourists coming to the park are taken in minibusses for the safari where the captive tigers are released in a huge and large area that is fenced from all sides.

At present, there are five captive Royal Bengal Tigers at SGNP which includes Basanti who is the oldest aged 18, Bijlee and Mastani aged 8, Laxmi who is aged 9 and Anand who is 10-years-old.

The Wildlife Rescue Ambulance in which Sultan was brought

In the month of July 2016, Tiger Female (TF-1) and Tiger Female (TF-2) were brought to SGNP from Pench with the aim to increase the captive population. In 2017, Yash had even mated with Bijlee but she failed to conceive. In May 2019, a 12-year-old Royal Bengal Tiger Yash who has been undergoing treatment for cancer at SGNP died. Sources from SGNP said that all the hopes are on Sultan now and authorities are hoping that this will help in increasing the population.

The male tiger Sultan was at Nagpur based Gorewada Zoo run by Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) and its official name is C1 who is the cub of Tigress T1 from Brahmapuri Forest Divison area.

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