Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has written a letter to his Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to return the tigress to her native state. Madhya Pradesh. Tigress 'Sundari', who was sent to Odisha under the Tiger Conservation Programme is now waiting for her return to her home in Kanha.
Chouhan in a letter has informed Patnaik that currently, the Ghorela centre, where tigers are trained before releasing them out in the wild, is occupied by an orphaned tiger cub and Sundari will be brought back to the centre once the cub is fit to be released.
A pair of tigers for the restoration of tiger population was sent to Odisha's Satkosia Tiger Reserve in 2018, on the request of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Odisha government.
Of this pair of tigers sent to Odisha, one died sometime later and 'Sundari' has been kept in the enclosure since November 2018. Her behaviour had become aggressive, but now she is behaving her normal self, a forest official said.
Sundari will be brought back to the Guerilla centre of the Kanha Tiger Reserve. All necessary instructions have been given to the forest authorities related to her adequate care.
Chouhan has said that the maintenance of the beautiful tigress in Odisha's Satkosia Tiger Reserve is not by the standards of the Wildlife Act because of which she is unable to display her natural behaviour.
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Chouhan in his letter has also pointed out that a special team sent to observe Sundari for the relocation process has found that the tigress because of being kept in an enclosure for a long time has become unfit to be released into the wild. She will have to be trained before she is sent into the wild.
Chouhan in his letter has requested the Odisha government to take good care of the tigress until she comes under the supervision of an expert team from Madhya Pradesh.
Chouhan mentioned that construction of tiger sanctuaries in Bandhavgarh Kanha and Pench in Madhya Pradesh has been recently approved, where Sundari will be relocated. However, construction of the sanctuary is a time taking process, she would temporarily be kept at the Ghorela centre.