What’s the news?

• The measures for habitat management for tigers launched about six months ago at the famous Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan’s Alwar district have started bearing fruit. 
• The tiger population in the wildlife sanctuary has gone up to 25, while the resources are being provided to create water holes and develop grasslands for ungulates as a prey base.

Aid for Guards

• A foundation established by a private bank has started delivering goods and resources which the Forest Department could not arrange because of a variety of handicaps and as part of its corporate social responsibility expenditure, the foundation is funding development of grasslands, earthen bunds and water holes for wild animals at 10 different locations and making livelihood intervention for the villagers being relocated from the sanctuary.
• The tiger reserve, spread across 1,216 sq. km area, witnessed the first-of-its-kind tiger relocation from the Ranthambore National Park by helicopter in 2008 after the felines became extinct in the sanctuary. 
• Since then, the animal has taken some time in multiplying at its own ease, unlike the Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, where a similar aerial translocation was carried out in 2009.
• The grassland habitats developed in dry patches of land have helped ungulates to feed better and breed in the areas such as Naya Pani, Dabli and Bhagani, leading to an enhanced feed for tigers.
• Sariska Tiger Reserve’s three more zones in the core area would be opened for tourists in the near future.
• Being the nearest Project Tiger reserve to the national capital, Sariska holds an immense potential for ecotourism with its rich wildlife and beautiful mountains, streams and lakes, as it is flourishing again with tigers.

About Sariska Tiger Reserve

• Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India.
• It was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India’s Project Tiger in 1978.
• It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers.
• Sariska also holds a variety of 211 bird species including some winter migrants such as peafowl and gray francolin.

References:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/better-habitat-management-helps-tigers-flourish-in-sariska/article38384504.ece
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sariska_Tiger_Reserve
3. https://ntca.gov.in/assets/uploads/briefnote/sariska.pdf