Two Soft Release Centres For Tigers In The Offing In Karnataka
The Soft Release Centre to observe its health condition before it is released in a new habitat
BENGALURU: Karnataka plans to establish two soft release centres for captured tigers and orphaned/abandoned cubs one at Bandipur Tiger Reserve and the other in the vicinity of Bhadra Tiger Reserve of Chikkamagaluru on the lines of a Soft Release Centre at Kanha National Park of Madhya Pradesh.
To establish such Centres in Karnataka, a team of forest officers led by APCCF (Wildlife) Biswajit Mishra, wildlife veterinarian Wasim and Chikkamagaluru DCF, will leave for Kanha on Thursday and study the Soft Release Centre’s functioning to be emulated here.
Part of the team to Kanha, Director of Bandipur National Park S.L. Nandish told Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday the soft release centre for Karnataka is needed because many a times tiger cubs get orphaned/abandoned by mothers and these rescued cubs needs to re-windling before they are released to wild and it is where a Soft Release Centre will come into play to horne their hunting skills.
In Madhya Pradesh, officials concerned initiate measures to translocate tigers from one tiger reserve to another reserve and prior to their release the tiger to be translocated is kept at the Soft Release Centre to observe its health condition before it is released in a new habitat.
"We will study the Soft Release programme adopted by Kanha National Park officials,” during the visit and stated “Once we come to know the functioning of the Soft Release Centre at Kanha, the same could be emulated in Karnataka.”
The Bandipur Director after learning the Soft Release Centre functioning and the programme adopted by Kanha National Park officials the same could be emulated here to to translocate a few tigers in reserves having less tiger population. Along with Bandipur, Nagarhole, Bhadra, Biligirirangana Hills (BR) and Kali are other tiger reserves in Karnataka.
Apart from studying Soft Release Centre functioning, the team from Karnataka will also study weed, grassland management and eco-tourism activity at Kanha National Park.