Efforts of the forest officials in Kerala to re-wild a tigress cub is getting delayed owing to the vision ailments of the tigress. The forest authorities are now even considering importing medicine from the US for treating the tigress aged around 15 months.
It was said to be for the first time in South India that an effort to re-wild a tiger was being made.
Even as the tigress is already being imparted training in hunting small prey and was behaving almost normally, owing to the vision ailments expert team comprising senior veterinarians are not giving the nod to release it back to the forest. It was suffering from a cataract on both eyes. The expert team that reviewed its health status recently evaluated that there was considerable improvement in the vision, but needs further improvement for taking a call on whether to release it in the forest or not.
The cub was found abandoned in the forest close to Mangala Devi Kannagi Temple in Kerala - Tamil Nadu border areas of Idukki in 2020 November. It was only around two months old then. As its mother did not turn up to collect it even after a couple of days, forest officials shifted it to a shelter and was named Mangala. It had problems with limb and vision
Forest department sources told DH that its eyes were about 90 per cent opaque initially and as a result of the treatment given so far it is only around 70 per cent opaque now. But the cub's movements are quite normal, maybe because its other senses are sharp. It also started hunting small prey. The problem with its limb was cured through swimming training and physiotherapy.
Senior veterinarian Dr Arun Zachariah, who has been reviewing the health condition of the tigress, said that except for the vision ailments the cub was healthy. But without curing the vision problem it could not be released to the forest.
A forest department official said that re-wilding steps in full swing would be initiated only after the tigress was declared healthy. Otherwise, it would be difficult to handle the tigress if it could not be released into the forest after re-wilding. Moreover, full swing re-wilding also involved high costs.
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