Tigress from Bandhavgarh to be flown to Panna this week

September 25th, 2009 BHOPAL - Two tigresses in the Panna national park in Madhya Pradesh, earlier slated to get a male companion Friday, will now have to wait at least for another four weeks as the tiger identified for relocation turned out to be from the same gene pool to which one of the tigresses belongs, a forest department official said. "Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientist Dr Ramesh, who is at Bandhavgarh, objected to the identified tiger being relocated after it was found to be from the same gene pool as a tigress already at Panna," said a forest department official, who did not wish to be named.

September 24th, 2009 BHOPAL - Two tigresses at the Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh will soon have male company. This will be the third Royal Bengal tiger to be relocated to the sanctuary, which once boasted of at least 30 of the big cats but lost them all.

August 21st, 2009 BHOPAL - Three cubs of a tigress, which was allegedly poisoned and found dead Tuesday, were traced two days later much to the relief of the officials of Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh National Park. "About 250 park employees were on an intensive search.

August 20th, 2009 BHOPAL - The depleting number of big cats in Madhya Pradesh has gone down further with one more tigress found dead at Bandhavgarh national park and her three cubs also untraceable, wildlife officials said Thursday. This is the third tiger death at Bandhavgarh this year.

July 6th, 2009 SUNDARBANS - Wildlife authorities released a tigress with animal tracking chip to keep an eye on the psychological behaviour of the big cat in Sundarbans forests in West Bengal. The seven-year old tigress, which had entered Satjelia village under Gosaba block of the Sundarbans delta a few days ago, was trapped on July 2.

July 5th, 2009 BHOPAL - With its tiger population dwindling sharply over the last two years, a worried Madhya Pradesh government will deploy a Special Tiger Protection Force in its three tiger reserves of Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench to arrest the big cat's worrying decline. The state government took the decision as it does not want to lose its 'Tiger State' tag to Karnataka due to the falling number of the big cats, according to a forest department official.

July 5th, 2009 BHOPAL - Yet another tigress has been found dead in Madhya Pradesh, amidst a hue and cry over the decline of the feline population in the state. The animal was poisoned to avenge the death of a villager's cattle, officials said.

June 30th, 2009 BHOPAL - A panel set up by the Madhya Pradesh government to probe how tigers have disappeared from the Panna Tiger Reserve will begin its work Thursday, officials said. The central government had earlier criticised the state government for failing to pay heed to the warnings about the tigers' disappearance from Panna.

June 4th, 2009 BHOPAL - A three-year-old tigress died at the Van Vihar National Park here, officials said Thursday. The park has lost 23 big cats in the last five years.

June 4th, 2009 BHOPAL - A three-year old tigress died at Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal. According to the veterinarian attached to the zoo, the tigress, 'Era' died late on Tuesday night when the intended vomit wrongly entered the lungs through the wind gullet and aggravated the lungs.

May 21st, 2009 BHOPAL - Taking serious note of the decline in number of tigers in the state, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has transferred field directors of the Kanha, Panna and Bandhavgarh national parks with immediate effect, an official said Thursday. 'Reviewing wildlife conservation in the state at a meeting of senior forest department officials late Wednesday, the chief minister expressed displeasure over the prevailing situation on tiger conservation across the state and warned of strict action against slack officials,' a highly placed official told IANS.

March 11th, 2009 BHOPAL - Having successfully shifted two tigresses to Panna Tiger Reserve recently, the Madhya Pradesh forest department now plans to move a tiger too there as the sanctuary's sole male tiger is untraceable, officials said. The only male tiger found during a Wildlife Institute of India (WII) survey using the camera trap method in December last year, is untraceable now, a forest department official said.

March 10th, 2009 BHOPAL - A tigress from the Kanha National Park was airlifted Monday to the Panna Tiger Reserve in eastern Madhya Pradesh so as to increase the feline numbers in the reserve. The tigress taken by an Indian Air Force helicopter to the reserve spread in an area of 542 sq km in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh Monday afternoon, forest officials said.

March 5th, 2009 BHOPAL - A tigress was shifted from Bandhavgarh to the Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh by road Wednesday after the authorities failed to get an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter, an official said. 'The decision to send the four-year-old big cat by road was taken due to the delay in receiving a chopper from the IAF,' Additional Principal Chief Conservator Forest (Wildlife) H.S.

January 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A tiger count is in progress in Madhya Pradesh's Panna Tiger Reserve even as officials are finalising plans to fly in two tigresses from another sanctuary next month, officials said. 'The two tigresses will be selected for relocation either from Bandhavgarh or Kanha tiger reserve,' said L.K.