Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has been told by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to tie a radio collar around the neck of the straying wild Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) which walked into Nandankanan Zoo here, official sources said today.
"The NTCA has suggested us to tie a radio collar round the neck of the male RBT which had escaped from Nandankan enclosure and later returned," Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray said. He said if required, tranquiliser will be used to tie the radio collar on the wild tiger.
Radio collars are used as a radio beacon to track animal migration for research, the minister said adding that NTCA had also suggested to keep the RBT for two more months in the enclosure of the zoo.
The minister however said that a decision will later be taken over its proper habitation.
The wild tiger entered the zoo on April 29 and escaped from the enclosure later by jumping over an 18 ft iron fencing.
Though several search operation launched by the forest department and Nandankanan authorities failed to locate the animal, the tiger entered the tiger safari on June 23 on its own, sources said.
A three-member team of the NTCA had meanwhile visited different tiger habitats to release the RBT confined in the enclosure. They visited Satkosia tiger reserve in Angul district and Mahanadi Wild Life Division, sources said.
PTI
