Bhubaneswar: A Royal Bengal Tiger, which was captured on camera in a forest in Gajapati district recently, has travelled around 750 km crossing four States to reach Odisha.
The same big cat was earlier trapped camera in a Maharashtra forest in 2021, PCCF (wildlife) Susanta Nanda said. It covered four states—Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
“Like human fingerprints, the stripes of tigers are also very unique. When the tiger was captured in our camera, we sent it to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to find out the landscape it originally belonged to. The WII confirmed that the animal came from Chandrapur under the Brahmhapuri forest division in Maharashtra after matching the photograph with another from their repository. The tiger was first captured on camera there in 2021 in Maharashtra,” Nanda said.
Now, it has covered around 750 km to reach Odisha. The big cats usually migrate in search of partners and safer places. It might come perhaps for the same reason, the PCCF added.
The tiger was recently sighted in the Mahendra forest range in Gajapati district since September,
After sighting the big cat in its jurisdiction, the Parlakhemundi forest division officials in Gajapati district have been tracking the movement of the wild animal.
Five teams have been formed to keep a close watch on the movement of the tiger.
Residents of Analabara village in the district panicked after the tiger mauled a cow to death.
