Success of tiger reintroduction at Panna Tiger Reserve

BHOPAL: Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh has added another feather to its cap. In a major boost to efforts to revive tiger population at the reserve, T5 - the hand-bred tigresses- has given birth to two cubs in its first litter.
This marks the successful completion of the first phase of tiger reintroduction programme in PTR. Feline population in Panna had disappeared completely a few years ago.From zero in early 2009, the number of tigers at PTR has hit 30 with these new arrivals.
Tigresses T4 and T5 were born at Kanha National Park (KNP) in May 2006 and were orphaned after birth. These two tigresses were semi-wild ones and had spent time in KNP inside an enclosure.
They were shifted to PTR in 2011 respectively. Both settled well. In November 2011, T4 had become the world's first hand-bred feline shifted to the wild, to spawn two cubs.
"It had abandoned its cubs born from the second litter in April this year," PTR director R S Murthy told TOI.
T4 and T5 were then reared in an enclosure and fed by KNP. The semi-wild tigress was carted out to Panna and released into the wild in March 2011.
"There were apprehensions about its survival in the wild, but she picked up soon, going for kills in the deep forest, where it met a lone translocated tiger, and mated," said PTR officials.
Earlier, two translocated tigresses had given birth to eight cubs at PTR, of which six had survived. "But both were wild tigresses, unlike hand-reared and shifted like T4," said the officer.
Another tigress T2, shifted from KNP in 2009, had given birth to three cubs in 2013. This was its third litter. In February it had eaten the cub, born nine months ago.
In early 2009, PTR had lost all its tigers and the big cats were subsequently reintroduced to revive their population.
When the relocation programme began in 2009, wildlife experts across the world doubted its success. Now the project is being seen as the most successful try-out ever.
Of the founder population, four were females (T1, T2, T4, T5) and one male (T3). Nine of their cubs are males and two females. Two males from the first litter of T1 have already established their territories in the park.