New Delhi: T1, the first female tiger who had been introduced in the Panna Tiger Reserve, reportedly passed away this week. She was 17 years old.
The tigress was brought in under a tiger recovery project following the depletion of the species’ population due to poaching and other circumstances. She died a natural death due to old age.
Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, Parveen Kaswan, shared the news on Twitter, after which the image of the tigress giving birth to 13 cubs went viral.
When Panna Tiger Reserve lost all its tigers. T1 was first female to be introduced in 2009 for recovery programme. She delivered 13 cubs and now Panna Tiger Reserve is abode of tigers once again. T1 took her last breath this week leaving a big family. PC: FD RS Murthy. pic.twitter.com/CeBPsQxKFc
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) February 3, 2023
In his Tweet, he mentioned that T1 had been re-introduced in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve after the park had lost all of its tigers in 2009. T1 went on to give birth to 13 cubs, which helped revive the reserve again.
The officer also mentioned that the tiger recovery programme in Panna was ‘one of the most successful tiger recovery programmes world over.’
He added that the picture of T1 giving birth to the cubs was taken in 2010 by a monitoring team that was documenting the birth of the first tigers under the recovery programme.
The internet quickly erupted with condolences after the Tweet, shared on Friday morning.
In February 2009, the Panna Tiger Reserve was devoid of tigers. In March of the same year, two tigresses, T1 and T2, were relocated to the reserve from the Bandhavgarh and Kanha Tiger Reserves to initiate a reintroduction campaign. Panna now has a population of 80 big cats, largely attributed to T1’s successful reintroduction.
She last delivered four cubs in 2016. Her offspring P-151 was reportedly spotted with four cubs the day after T1’s death. The video of P-151 being followed by four cubs, which is her third litter, to a waterbody was recorded on Thursday, said Panna Tiger Reserve field director Brijendra Jha.
Also read: Day after death of much-feted tigress in MP’s Panna, offspring seen with four cubs