In a major relief for forest officials, radio-collared tigress Hirkani (STR T6) of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve has been confirmed alive and healthy through fresh camera trap images after concerns grew over her whereabouts during the past 10 days. However, the tigress was spotted without her GPS tracking collar. Officials suspect the collar may have either fallen off due to a technical fault or removed by the tigress herself.

Signal concern

According to forest officials, Hirkani’s GPS collar had been transmitting signals from the same location for nearly 10 days, raising fears of a technical malfunction, collar drop-off, or possible danger to the tigress. Despite extensive patrolling and search operations across a large forest area, teams were unable to trace her physically.