Tigress shifted to Panna Tiger Reserve from Pench

SEONI (MP): A tigress has been shifted from Pench Tiger Reserve to the Panna Tiger Reserve here where the number of the female big cats has been dwindling.

"After a lot of efforts, a three-and-half year old tigress was caught from Kurai range by the trained wildlife experts and shifted last evening to the Panna Tiger Reserve," the reserve's director Alok Kumar told reporters here on Wednesday.

The tigress was caught under the guidance of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials after obtaining permission from principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) wildlife and central authorities concerned, he said.

After successful tiger reintroduction programme in Madhya Pradesh, Panna Reserve, that lost all its felines to poaching four years back, now boasts of 23 big cats in its wild.

At present, there are more male tigers in the reserve than female ones, forest officials said.

To address the problem, the authorities have decided to translocate two more tigresses from other reserves and also obtained permission to shift few tigers to other places.