In an operation which has broken most guidelines set down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a breeding tigress was airlifted from Kanha to Panna tiger reserve on Monday morning.

According to camera-trapping evidence by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), there are no tigers or tigresses left in Panna, a fact still not accepted by Madhya Pradesh. In a letter to the Prime Minister, members of the National Board for Wildlife (NBW) and tiger experts have now demanded a high-level inquiry into the disappearance of all tigers from Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

The letter, signed by NBW members Valmik Thapar, Brijendra Singh, Belinda Wright and former director, Project Tiger P K Sen, tiger scientists Raghu Chundawat and Ullas Karanth and conservationists Bittu Sahgal and Fateh Singh Rathore, says the future of translocated tigresses cannot be ensured as Panna is not safe for tigers until an inquiry clarifies what led to the local extinction of tigers from Panna.

In the face of protests from locals and conservationists from Kanha against the translocation of the established tigress, a group of conservationists on Monday filed a plea in the Jabalpur High Court. “We are protesting the non-transparency of the relocation and the breaking of the NTCA guidelines. The Chief Justice in Bhagalpur has indicated that the hearing will happen on Friday,” said Neelesh Agarwal, who is associated with the plea.

Translocating two tigresses was part of a recovery strategy for Panna. The NTCA had, however, specified that only young tigresses from outside the core area would be moved for the relocation process. On March 3, a breeding tigress was moved from Bandhavgarh’s core area and on Monday, a breeding tigress was moved from Kanha’s core area, in a clear break from the guidelines and in an apparent hurry to finish the exercise.

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