Senior state forest department officials said that they commissioned a study that would examine the relocation of ungulates from sites like Sagareshwar wildlife sanctuary, Katraj zoo in Pune and Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai which have sufficient population.

The project is aimed at eventually enhancing tiger numbers in the Sahyadri tiger project. The reserve currently has around five to seven tigers, with no resident big cats.

These numbers are low as the big cats do not breed there due to poor prey base in the Koyna wildlife sanctuary.

A forest official told DNA that the herbivore restocking would see animals like sambar and chital being released into the habitat. “The two-year study will keep a track of the ungulate population and the feasibility of the relocation. Their landscape too will be mapped into grids,” he added. The area will have one male and two or three females released into each grid.

“We will create water holes to attract herbivores and also undertake other habitat development works. This may lead to them migrating to the core area. If this does not increase the numbers, we may have to translocate and re-stock them,” the official said.

A few deer were introduced in the reserve in 2014 from Katraj Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and the Sagareshwar sanctuary to boost the prey base. The forest department is now planning to relocate tigers from the TadobaAndhari Tiger Project, Vidarbha to repopulate the reserve in this first experiment in the wild in Maharashtra.