PENCH Tiger Reserve (PTR) management is planning to establish a Transit Treatment Centre (TTC) in Paoni range of Bhandara district for quick rescue and medical help to wild animals, specially for carnivorous. Normally, for such operations, Forest Department takes help of Nagpur based Transit Treatment Centre (T TC) or Gorewada Rescue Centre (GRC). The ongoing dispersal attempt of five cubs of Gothangaon tigress, famously known as F2 of Umred-PauniKarhandla Wildlife Sanctuary (UPKWS) raised concern among the forest department. To avoid any man-animal conflict situation in nearby villages, the management is planning to establish the TTC.

 

“All the five litters have now started dispersing in nearby forest areas, which raised threat of man-animal conflict in nearby villages. The dispersal is a natural behaviour of big cats and the popularity of the cubs is a big challenge for us. Therefore,we are planning to establish TTCin Bhandara to felicitate quick rescue operation in case of man-animal conflict,” Akshay Gajbhiye,Deputy Director, PTR to TheHitavada. “The TTC will be establishedonly to conduct quickrescue, provide medical help tothe wild animal and thenrelease it in new naturalhabitat to avoid future man-animal conflict,” said Gajbhiye. Inlast one year, F2 and her five cubsgained tremendous popularityamong tourists as her rare litterof five bold cubs who were frequently sighted together bytourists.

 

The tigress and cubsraised eco-tourism fromGothangaon gate as every onewho are visiting UPKWS wantsto witness F2. “To avoid poaching of these bigcats, our teams are constantlymonitoring them. In search ofnew territory, the cubs visitedMandal village which is 12 kilometres far from Gothangaon,”informed the Deputy Director.“We are using drones, ArtificialIntelligence (AI) cameras andregular patrolling to observe themovement of the tigress and itscubs. Popularity of these tigersalso helping us as tourists alsoinform about their location indeep forest,” said Gajbhiye.