Photo: Mayank Mishra.Tiger conservationists in Telangana have clarified to Sanctuary that the report that Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary's missing tiger Jai has been seen in the forests of Telangana is false.
Jai, hailed as one of the country's largest tigers, and the jewel in the crown of Maharashtra's Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary has been the subject of much speculation for the past year. Jai is famous amongst wildlife enthusiasts for undertaking a 100 km. journey from his natal home in the Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve to Umred, where he sired nine cubs. However, Jai disappeared from the sanctuary in April 2016.
Though he was collared, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) reported that the satellite link to the collar had failed after malfunctioning due to interference from high tension power lines around the park. Even as researchers theorised that he had simply migrated out of the Protected Area, volunteers and conservation organisations conducted extensive searches for any sign of the popular big cat.
Therefore, last month when a Telegu television channel broadcasted video footage of a tiger in Telangana, claiming it to be Jai, it caused a furore. However, Sanctuary's on-ground sources have disputed this information, asserting that the video was from an old clip of another tiger. “The video was not of the missing tiger Jai, but of another male tiger, heavily barred and much smaller in size. We had captured this tiger on camera back in December 2015, in the Kadam range of Kawal," said Imran Siddiqui, researcher from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), India.
