Bhopal: It may sound good for the sake of pairs, but the concurrent planned birth anniversary of the late royal Maharaja Madhavrao Scindia and father of union Civil Aviation minister Jyotiratditya Scindia seems to have been spoiled as one of the two tigresses to be released along with a tiger into the Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri has gone missing!
The two tigresses and the tiger were set to be released on Friday into the MNP by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Scindia. The male animal was captured from the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology's (MANIT) in October and was brought from Satpura Tiger Reserve. The two tigresses were to be brought from Panna and Badhavgarh Tiger Reserves to the MNP.
However in a last minute upset, the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) tigress went “missing” at the reserve at the last minute leaving the officials red-faced, sources said. The source said that the wildlife officials at the PTR have been trying to trace the tigress' location, but to no avail.
Also read: MP govt to release tiger, two tigresses into Madhav National Park at Shivpuri today
According to the forest department officials, the tiger and one of the two tigresses tigers had already been tranquilized, as part of the plan. The 2nd tigress was to be sedated two days before the event. However, on Wednesday March 8, when it was scheduled to be tranquilized, it vanished, an official said.
The forest department staff sweated out a lot to find the tigress, but there was no trace of the big cat for the last 2 days. According to Bijendra Jha, Area Director of Panna Tiger Reserve, the team is still on the lookout for the tigress. However, the rest of the officers are tightlipped about the matter.
It is being said that due to the disappearance of the tigress, only two tigers will be released in Shivpuri's Madhav National Park today as all preparations for the project have been made with even the MP chief minister already on way to the MNP in Shivpuri. Initially, the relocated tigers will be kept in separate enclosures.
After adapting them to the environment, the two will be released into the wild after a few days. The disappearance of the tigress is expected to mar the birth anniversary of late Maharaja, Madhavrao Scindia, father of Jyotiraditya Scindia. On the eve of the relocation project, the union Civil Aviation Minister had called it a a “historic day for Shivpuri and Madhya Pradesh” and urged people of the state to participate in the event. "Re-introduction of tigers in Madhav National Park will be a true tribute to my respected father Madhavrao Scindia. Be a witness to the dreams come true,” Scindia wrote in Twitter.
