Newsroom24x7 Staff

Panna (Madhya Pradesh): T5 – the tigress brought to Panna Tiger Reserve from Kanha in November 2011 under the ambitious Panna Tiger Reintroduction Project was found dead this morning in the Hinauta beat of the Panna habitat.

According to the Park director, the cause of death of 11 year old T5 is said to be infighting between the tigers. After the Panna Tiger Reserve veterinary doctor Sanjeev Kumar Gupta conducted the autopsy, T5 was cremated at 2.30 pm today in the presence of Chhatarpur Chief Conservator of Forest Lal Singh Rawat and repreentatives of the National Tiger Conservation Aurthority and Wildlife Institute of India.

After the entire population of Panna tigers had vanished and not a single tiger was spotted in the Panna Tiger Reserve making Panna a ‘zero’ tiger park, T3 was relocated to this area from Pench and T1 (Tigress from Bhandhavgarh) and T2 (Tigress from Kanha) were brought to Panna in March 2009 under the ambitious Panna Tiger Reintroduction Project. The comprehensive Tiger Reintroduction Project was conceived in technical collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India and launched after obtaining clearance from National Tiger Conservation Authority.

The Panna Tiger Reintroduction Project had touched a major milestone in December 2009 when the Panna team had rescued T3, the male tiger brought from Pench Tiger Reserve, and released it in the park area for the second time.

T3 was brought to the Panna habitat in the month of November 2009. After staying in the park area for a short period, this tiger left the park area and kep moving in the southern direction where his home—Pench was located. He had travelled more than 450 km during that one month. After this tiger was rescued and released in Panna Tiger Reserve, he had paired with T1 and T2. While T1 gave birth to four cubs in mid-April 2010, T2 also gave birth to four cubs in October 2010. After a few months, T4 along with 2 other siblings were orphaned when their mother was killed in Kanha. The Kanha management had picked up these cubs and hand-reared them with a plan to re-wild them. T4 was the first to be relocated for re-wilding at Panna in March 2011. T4 delivered two cubs in mid-November 2011 Subsequently T5 (sibling of T4) was also released at Panna in November 2011. T1 and T2 delivered their second litters in 2012 with four and three cubs respectively.

In July 2012, semi-adult tigress was found dead in the Panna Tiger Reserve. The dead tigress was identified as Panna-214, the fourth cub born from the first litter of T2.