Bhubaneswar: Odisha will soon get five Royal Bengal Tigers from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to increase the population of wild cats in the state.

The tigers will be housed at the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Bargarh district, and the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.

Speaking to mediapersons, Susanta Nanda, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), said, “We had requested Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to supply he wild cats and they have given their consent now. They have also selected the tigers from their core areas.

"Two teams led by Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) will go to these states within a week for the final transfer process. We hope the good news will come soon and we will complete the process before the Wildlife Week in September.”

Nanda also said that two giraffes from the Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata are scheduled to reach the Nandankanan Zoological Park under the animal exchange programme by the end of this month.

Two tigers -- Mahavir and Sundari -- were shifted from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve as part of India’s first inter-state tiger translocation project in June 2018.

However, the project failed as Mahavir died just few months after the relocation, while Sundari was returned to Madhya Pradesh's Kanha National Park on in March 2021 after spending almost three years in the state.

As per the first All Odisha Tiger Census released in February this year by the Forest Department, there were 30 tigers and eight cubs in the forests of Odisha. The earlier estimation had reported the presence of 20 tigers in Odisha's forests in 2022.

The Similipal Tiger Reserve is home to 27 tigers.

(IANS)