By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
For wildlife lovers, it was a delight when they saw a young tiger running with its maximum speed in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand on Thursday.
Soon these rare moments were captured in videos as the five-year-old male tiger was released from a cage at the Rajaji National Park as part of the big cat translocation efforts.
As the radio-collared tiger, which was captured after being sedated from the Corbett Tiger Reserve, was released, the big cat ran with his majestic gait gaining the maximum speed in seconds with long strides, the videos of which immediately went viral.
“Tiger from Corbett released in Rajaji to enhance the tiger population in western part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve. Yet another success in tiger translocation efforts,” said Corbett Tiger Reserve Director Saket Badola.
Tiger, which was fifth in the translocation programme, was released in a specialized enclosure built in Motichur range of Rajaji Tiger Reserve. The tiger would live in this enclosure for four-five days before entering into the jungles.
To increase the population of tigers in the western side of Rajaji Tiger Reserve, five tigers have been brought to Rajaji from Corbett Tiger Reserve under the translocation project.
Earlier, four tigers, including three females, were reintroduced in the Rajaji reserve in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 from Corbett park and its nearby forest divisions. According to the latest estimates of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Rajaji is home to 55 tigers, 51 in the eastern part and other four in the western part.
The tiger reserve, which was formed after merging three wildlife sanctuaries namely, Rajaji, Motichur and Chilla, spans 1,075 sq km, and is spread across three districts — Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal.