IWN Daily Digest — Wednesday, 11 November 2026

A tiger that officials think crossed over from a neighbouring state has been photographed inside an Odisha sanctuary where the government already plans to bring in tigers from central India.

As reported by PTI, via ThePrint:

“The big cat is suspected to have entered the sanctuary from neighbouring Chhattisgarh. However, its origin, gender and other details will be established after the photographs are analysed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), she said.”

The sanctuary is Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Bargarh district, where patrolling staff both caught the tiger on camera and saw it for themselves. The divisional forest officer of the Hirakud Wildlife Division, who is the “she” in that quote, said on Monday, 9 November, that it had come in through the Dechuan-Lakhanpur forest area.

Whether it is male or female, and where exactly in Chhattisgarh it started out, will have to wait until the NTCA and the WII have been through the photographs. In the meantime, 100 camera traps have gone up and 27 teams walk the sanctuary’s trails every day, with three layers of teams handling the night patrols.

Previous Tenant

A tiger lived in Debrigarh for around a year and a half between 2022 and 2024, PTI reported, and later died of electrocution in Chhattisgarh’s Gomarda sanctuary.

Officials told the agency that Debrigarh’s dense forest cover, its strong prey base and the water available in the Hirakud reservoir may be what drew the new arrival in. The state government’s plan is to introduce tigers to the sanctuary from the Central Indian landscape.

Sources: ThePrint (PTI)

India Wildlife News aggregates wildlife stories from across Indian media to bring the latest from the field to enthusiasts, conservationists, and curious readers — all in one place. Full credit and links to original sources are provided. We encourage readers to visit and support the original publishers.