Collars stop working,news ones ordered

They were put into use after a lot of hype and budgetary allocations.

They were put into use after a lot of hype and budgetary allocations. However,collars which were fitted on tigers as part of first-ever translocations to Sariska and Panna in July last year have reportedly stopped working now.

While the collars meant to monitor three newly introduced tigers in Sariska and two tigers in Panna are erratic,the satellite collar fitted on a Sariska tiger has become completely non-functional. An Ultra High Frequency (UHF) collar in Panna,only over a month old,is also not working. One of the collars has completely stopped working. We have ordered another collar from Delhi. We are getting it free as the collar that we have with us is still in the warranty period, said a senior official from Wildlife Institute of India (WII)

WII is in charge of the collaring project in both reserves.

Story continues below this ad

India made history by translocating a tiger and a tigress for the first time last July to Sariska,which had lost all its tigers to poaching. It was then decided that the tigers would be fitted with battery-run collars for constant monitoring,both against poachers and to prevent the cats from leaving the reserve. Lotek collars were configured for Sariska to relay signals to satellite system Argos as well as give out radio-telemetry ground tracking signals.

Unfortunately,the collars have proved virtual non-starters. In order to make the collar lighter for the Panna translocation exercise in March,it was also decided to use UHF instead of satellite collars. We decided to configure the collar in a manner that would be a combination of ultra high frequency and a good ground tracking frequency. That would also make the collars lighter, said the WII official.

But the collar did not work at all. A few days ago,it was erratic. We had completely lost signals on the tigress. This is very worrying as the collar is only a month old. We have to take a final decision on replacing the collar, the official added.

In a letter to the Prime Minister,National Board for Wildlife Members Belinda Wright along with five other tiger conservationists and scientists,have sought a tiger translocation protocol while stating that the collar for the Panna tigresses was chosen in haste. The National Tiger Conservation Authority is also working on a translocation protocol,including collaring. A male tiger proposed to be translocated to Panna,will be done so only after the protocol comes into being.

‘Grave insult to wounded people’: Cong lashes out at PM Modi amid his first Manipur visit

India4 hr ago

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Manipur for the first time since ethnic violence hit the state in May 2023, the Congress on Saturday called it a “farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people”.

View all shorts

Live Blog