Maharashtra: Two tigresses captured in Chandrapur to be translocated to NNTR under programme to curb man-animal conflict, says minister

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State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the two tigresses captured recently in Maharashtra's Chandrapur by the forest department will be released into the Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) on Saturday as part of a tiger translocation programme aimed at curbing the man-animal conflict in the district.

This is the first translocation of tigers within the state, Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar claimed while talking to PTI.

The NNTR is spread across Gondia and Bhandara districts of the state.

"Under the programme, around 25 tigers will be translocated from Chandrapur district to other places in the state to curb the man-animal conflicts," he said.

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A senior forest department official told PTI that two non-troublesome tigresses were recently captured in Chandrapur.

"These tigresses were examined by a team of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) before their release into the NNTR," he said.

Sources in the forest department told PTI that so far this year, tigers killed eight persons in Chandrapur district, while two others were killed by leopards.

In 2022, a total of 53 people were killed in the attack by tigers and leopards in the district, they said.

In the wake of rising incidents of man-animal conflict in Chandrapur, senior forest officials had forwarded a proposal to the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) in Nagpur for its nod to translocate some tigers from Chandrapur to the NNTR, reported PTI.

Accordingly, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had given approval to shift the non-troublesome tigers and tigresses to the NNTR, a forest official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)