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Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR)
Context:
In 2023, 112 families from Tuluka and Asanbahal were relocated to Dhauragotha, marking the second such resettlement colony around Satkosia. This shift is part of Odisha’s larger effort to free the forest for tiger conservation.
Reserve Without Tigers
- Location and Area: Satkosia Tiger Reserve is located in the border of Angul and Nayagarh districts of Odisha, India.
- History: The Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1976, and the Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuary was added in 1981.
- Satkosia Tiger Reserve was established in 2007 by merging the Satkosia Gorge and Baisipali sanctuaries.
- Terrain and Biodiversity: The reserve is situated where the Mahanadi River passes through a 22 km long gorge in the Eastern Ghats mountains.
- It is part of the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests ecoregion and features diverse flora and fauna, including mixed deciduous forests and riverine forests.
- Key wildlife includes leopards, wild dogs, elephants, various deer species, and reptiles like crocodiles and snakes.
- Tiger Population: The tiger population in STR has dwindled alarmingly—from 12 recorded in 2007 to none by 2022.
- In an effort to restore the tiger population, India’s first inter-state tiger relocation program was launched in 2018.
- A male tiger from Kanha Tiger Reserve and a tigress from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh were introduced into STR.
- However, the project met a tragic end—one tiger was killed in a poacher’s trap, and the other, after straying into human settlements, was eventually sent back.
- Crocodile Conservation: In March 1974, the Forest Department of Odisha, with technical assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), launched a crocodile breeding program.
- A year later, in March 1975, the Gharial Research and Conservation Unit (GRACU) was established, playing a key role in crocodile conservation efforts in India.
- Its initiatives focus on conservation breeding, rehabilitating crocodiles, and releasing reared individuals into their natural habitat.
