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A tigress, Zeenat, was moved to Similipal Tiger Reserve to increase the tiger population’s genetic diversity.
A member of the Munda tribe has filed a legal challenge against this translocation.
The challenge stems from the denial of permission to perform customary worship in Jamunagarh village, which is now Zeenat's enclosure.
Villagers claim they were evicted from their ancestral land between 2015 and 2022.
They continued worship with verbal permission from the reserve, which was recently denied.
The petitioner argues the tiger translocation happened without local people's consent, and that protocols were ignored.
The petitioner asserts the villagers have community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, guaranteeing religious practices in sacred groves.
The Orissa High Court has issued a notice to the Forest and Environment department regarding the petition.
Similipal Tiger Reserve
It is situated in the northern part of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
Similipal derives its name from ‘Simul’ (silk cotton) tree.
It was formally designated a tiger reserve in 1956 and brought under Project Tiger in the year 1973.
It was declared a biosphere reserve by the Government of India in June, 1994.
It has been part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserve since 2009.
It is part of the Similipal-Kuldiha-Hadgarh Elephant Reserve popularly known as Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, which includes 3 protected areas :
Similipal Tiger Reserve, Hadagarh Wildlife sanctuary and Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary.
Two tribes, the Erenga Kharias and the Mankirdias, inhabit the reserve’s forests and practise traditional agricultural activities (the collection of seeds and timber).
Melanistic tigers are only found in the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, India.
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