Ranthambore tiger moved to Udaipur park

RANTHAMBORE: The Rajasthan forest department on Saturday shifted the tiger, T-24, from Ranthambore to Udaipur's Sajjangarh Biological Park, days after the big cat killed a guard on May 8.

Officials said the tiger had killed four people in five years, and has become a man-killer while justifying the relocation. The tiger was tranquilized and sent on the 11-hour journey in a cage. A team of 12 officials and doctors accompanied the tiger, which had 30-40 sq kilometer territory in Ranthabore but will now be confined in an enclosure measuring nearly half-a-hectare.

The transfer shocked activists as they had been assured the tiger would not be shifted without an inquiry , and remained skeptical whether the tiger had indeed killed the guard, Rampal Mali. In fact, a probe panel's formation was underway to decide the fate the tiger. But sources said a powerful section of hotel lobby in Ranthambore forced the tiger's shifting before it. Even the state forest minister and Sajjangarh officials were kept in the dark.