A Ray of Renewed Hope at Sariska

Sariska tigers mate, first litter by monsoon end8 Jun 2009, 0041 hrs IST, Abantika Ghosh, TNNNEW DELHI: More than four years after the Sariska Tiger Reserve earnedworldwide notoriety for having lost its entire tiger population, hopesare high that the reserve will finally have its ``own'' tigers again.The three relocated tigers - two females and a male, all of them fromRanthambore - have taken to their new habitat very well and have beenmating. Two were recently ``caught in the act'' by a WildlifeInstitute of India researcher and the second tigress - which has beenmating with the male since November - according to WII officials, isin the family way.Tigers have a gestation period of about 100 days and WII expertsexpect the first litter to arrive before the end of the monsoon.According to WII research coordinator K Shankar, the two tigresses areaware of each other's presence but have not met so far probablybecause ``they are keen to avoid confrontation.'' While one of themhas settled in Bagani - the site of a village which was relocated outof Sariska last year as part of the initiative to make the forestsafer for tigers - the other, pregnant female has marked theSariska-Kalighatti valley as its ``territory''. It was the Baganifemale which was photographed with the tiger. The first tiger wasbrought to Sariska on June 28, 2008, the second on July 5 and thethird on February 25 this year.Shankar said mating does not necessarily result in pregnancy becausetigers have induced ovulation. ``The female releases the egg only whenshe is comfortable enough in her surroundings and feels that she isready to raise a litter. The Kalighatti female seems to have doneso,'' he said.Happy as they are at the prospect of the striped beauties returning toSariska, Shankar said there was hardly any doubt that the tigers wouldbreed. As members of the cat family, tigers are prolific maters. Thereal challenge, he added, is to save the coming generation frommeeting the same fate as their predecessors in the forest.``Tigers did not die out from Sariska. They were poached. There is anelaborate plan in place now to protect them. There are 100 homeguardsand another 100 ex-servicemen who have been recruited. All the olderguards have been shifted out of forest duty so that there is an entirestaff of young people patrolling the forest. Poaching routes have beenidentified and the intelligence network has been strengthened,''Shankar said.