The Maharashtra government has constituted an 11-member committee to formulate a strategy to decide whether conservation translocation of tigers to areas devoid of wildcats will be feasible or not.
There is a proposal to translocate some tigers from Bramhapuri to areas which are devoid of tigers. With at least 26-28 tigers, Bramhapuri in the Tadoba landscape is always in news for man-animal conflict.
The Supreme Court ordered earlier that the translocation must be strictly in accordance with IUCN guidelines.
The committee is headed by principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) AK Misra, while conservator of forests and field director of Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) Ravikiran Govekar is member-secretary.
Other members of the committee include additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF) (wildlife), Nagpur, chief conservator of forest (CCFs) of Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Amravati Circles, field directors of Melghat, Tadoba, Pench-Bor tiger reserves and regional in charge of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientist Bilal Habib.
The committee will submit a report in three months.
Forest corridors are critical for the long-term survival of wild species, enabling their dispersal and migration and upholding their genetic robustness.
The lions arrived in India much earlier than the tiger, i.e. about 20,000-30,000 years ago. They were found in northern, western and central India.
The tiger arrived into India approximately 12,000 years ago from the north and northeastern Asia.