Monday, May 9 2005 10:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bhubaneswar: With the spotlight on the tiger and its future, the Centre's decision to turn down Orissa's request for creation of two more tiger projects in the State has evoked mixed feelings in wildlife circles.

"This is a step we may rue later. It's time to act now to save the tiger," eminent tiger expert Saroj Kumar Patnaik said.

The Orissa Government had proposed to bring the Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in western Orissa, bordering Chhattisgarh, and Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary, along the Mahanadi River in the central region, under the Project Tiger Coverage.

Similipal, the nearly 2,800 sq km national park in Mayurbhanj district was given the status of the State's only tiger reserve since 1972, when the programme was launched, with encouraging results.

The royal Bengal tiger population increased dramatically in the famous park before stabilising around 100, Patnaik, former State Chief Wildlife Warden and Chairman of WWF's Orissa committee, said.

The steering committee on Project Tiger's decision to turn down Orissa's plea for new tiger reserves could be a "kneejerk reaction in the aftermath of Sariska", he said adding "if we have lost Sariska, it does not mean we have lost everything".

But the demand for creating more tiger reserves in the State has not convinced a section of wildlife activists in the State.