Maharashtra: Tipeshwar’s Walker Two finds new home in Aurangabad

A young tiger that walked all the way from Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Vidarbha to Gautala Autram Ghat Sanctuary of Aurangabad covering a 330 km road distance appears to have made the sanctuary its home Exclusive camera trap pictures accessed by midday show the tiger frequenting a watering hole in the sanctuary The tiger was first spotted in Gautala Autram Ghat Sanctuary on March 15 by the forest department which has been closely monitoring its movementsT3C1 is over two years oldAdditional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest APCCFWildlife West Sunil Limaye said ldquoSince March our team at Gautala is closely monitoring tiger T3C1rsquos movements Camera traps have been installed at several locations The interesting and surprising part about the tigerrsquos journey is that during its travel from Pandharkawda to Gautala it was not seen by anyone and there was zero mananimal conflictrdquoThe sanctuary is spread across 260 square kilometres and 15 camera traps have been installedldquoThe tiger is killing prey in the forest including wild boar sambar and neel gai There is ample prey available in the sanctuary and right now it appears that the tiger has settled thererdquo Limaye addedAlso Read A healthy respect for wildlife is always advisableAccording to forest officials this is the first tiger sighting in the sanctuary since 1940 Officials could not believe their eyes when they saw the footage from the camera trapThe images were matched with the tiger database and the tiger was determined to be T3C1 Walker 2 aged over two years from Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha As this tiger does not have a radio collar on him the forest department has to depend on camera trapsGautala Autram Ghat Sanctuary has southern tropical dry deciduous forest and grasslandsExperts feel that the tiger might have walked through Pandharkawda Umarkhed some parts of Telangana Akola Dnyanganga Buldhana Hingoli and reached Gautala from the Ajanta mountain range walking around 2000 kmThe Gautala sanctuary has southern tropical dry deciduous forest and grasslands and itrsquos home to a large number of animals like the jungle cat leopard cat barking deer jackal fox leopard wild boar and chinkara As per the forest department data the sanctuary is home to over 25 leopardsThe tiger that walked 3000 kmIn June 2019 a tiger named Walker 1 which was fitted with a radio caller started walking from Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal where it was born and reached Dnyanganga Sanctuary in December 2019 travelling through eight districts of Maharashtra and Telangana Forest department officials were able to track its movement till February 2020 till its radio collar was removed It is said that the tiger walked for close to 3000 km the longest journey made by a tiger fitted with a radio collar After the removal of the collar there has been no information of where Walker 1 might be15No of camera traps monitoring Walker 2rsquos movements260 sq kmExpanse of the Gautala Autram Ghat Sanctuary1940Year a tiger was last sighted before T3C1 in the Gautala Autram Ghat Sanctuary15Day in March T3C1 was first sighted at a watering hole