Panna reserve in MP to get another tigress

BHOPAL: One more tigress would be relocated to Panna Tiger Reserve in the state on Saturday, as a part of efforts to revive the tiger population there, a top forest official said.

"A six-year old tigress will be brought to the park from Kanha Tiger Reserve tomorrow," Panna Tiger Reserve's field director RS Murthy said.

The tigress will be brought by road, he said; the distance between Kanha and Panna - both situated in eastern Madhya Pradesh - is around 450 km.

Two tigresses and a tiger had already been translocated to the Panna reserve, spread over an area of 543 sq km in Panna and Chhatarpur districts.

A tigress from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve was brought in March 2009 and another feline was translocated from Kanha in the same month.

Thereafter, a tiger was brought from Pench Tiger Reserve. The two translocated tigresses gave birth to cubs last year, officials said, adding that five cubs had been spotted so far.

Panna Tiger Reserve, which once had more than 35 tigers, had become devoid of the big cat, allegedly due to poaching, by 2009.

According to the revival plan, in all four tigresses and two tigers will be shifted to Panna, officials said.