THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, March 5: Today, the Palamu Tiger Reserve wrote history. PTR has joined the elite tiger reserves in India, which has a long history of translocating wildlife.
It successfully intra-translocated 2 Cheetals from Betla National Park, under the Betla range, to a soft release centre at Herendegwa, under the Chhipadohar East range.
Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director Kumar Ashutosh said, “It’s a great thing that happened today. We shifted 2 Cheetals from the Betla range to our other range, Chhipadohar East.”
Soft release centre
PTR Deputy Director North Division P K Jena said, ” We intra-translocated 2 Cheetals. They are male and female. They are adults. They will surely love their new abode, Herendegwa soft release centre under the Chhipadohar east range.”
A fleet of officers, including field director Kumar Ashutosh, deputy director of the south division Kumar Ashish, and field director of the north division P K Jena, witnessed this translocation smoothly.
NTCA’s standard operational procedures
A drone was flown, and a veterinarian was present. The NTCA’s standard operational procedures were followed when translocating the Cheetals.
The BOMA truck had these two Cheetals and took 30 minutes to travel from the Betla range to the Chhipadohar east range’s Herendegwa.
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Jena said the distance between these two ranges is a mere 12 km, but this small journey was a big journey of hope.
The PTR bought a BOMA truck from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. It is worth a little over 27 lakh rupees.
Flawless translocation
The flawless translocation of Cheetals has come as a shot in the arm of the PTR’s top officers. They are genuinely buoyant and have big plans, too.
Plan to translocate Indian Gaurs
They plan to translocate Indian Gaur from the Betla range to other locations in PTR itself. Indian Gaur is only in Betla National Park and nowhere else in the PTR or, for that matter, in Jharkhand.
If and when Indian Gaurs are translocated here, they will be from the Betla range to the Chhipadohar ranges, the Bareysanr range, the Garu ranges, etc., as these ranges, including the Kutku range, are bereft of the Indian Gaur.
However, PTR officials are very discreet about it. First, they want to gain more expertise in translocating Cheetals.
Today, they started with just two, but it was a happy gender combination: one male and the other female. They know what progeny means to PTR at this stage when there is a concerted effort to raise the prey base for the carnivores here.
There were moments when it looked like Cheetals were outwitting the PTR officials by declining to board the waiting BOMA truck for days and weeks.
However, under the supervision of the field director, Kumar Ashutosh, Jena and his team did not lose hope. They knew they would do it; today, they got it done.
This transfer of Cheetals has a vital purpose. It is to set right the count in other locations in PTR where it is zero.
Cheetals abound in the Betla National Park under the Betla range, while rare in the other seven ranges.
The translocation of Cheetals is to balance this wildlife at other sites of the PTR.
Kumar Ashutosh said, “It’s a long way to replenish our prey base. Male and female Cheetals will help grow its headcount.”
When asked if this maiden translocation of Cheetals had hiccups, Jena said, “It was all very smooth. It went off with precision and perfection.”
“It’s a coincidence that Cheetals boarded our BOMA truck on Tuesday as PTR is not open to tourists on Tuesday. Thus, we had enough time for the Cheetals today,” added Jena.
